Road segment safety rating system

ABSTRACT

Methods, computer-readable media, systems and apparatuses for determining a safest road segment for traveling between a first location and a second location are provided. In some cases, the road segment safety rating may be determined for a plurality of road segments between the first location and the second location based on historical data associated with the road segments (e.g., accident history data, traffic volume data, etc.) and/or based on driving behavior data of the operator of the vehicle. An indication of the road segment determined as being the safest may be provided to the operator of the vehicle. An actual route of travel of the vehicle can be captured and compared to the safest route. If the vehicle has traveled the safest route, the operator may earn an award. If not, the operator may be notified that an award may be earned when an indicated safest route is traveled.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of, and claims priority to,co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 14/607,433, filed Jan. 28, 2015,which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/100,913, filed Dec. 9, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/118,021, filed May 9, 2008, issued Dec. 10, 2013as U.S. Pat. No. 8,606,512, which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 60/917,169 filed May 10, 2007. All of theaforementioned are incorporated by reference in their entirety herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to risk mitigation. Moreparticularly, aspects of the disclosure relate to using geographicallyencoded information to promote and/or reward risk mitigation. Variousaspects of the disclosure relate to road segment safety rating systemsand using the road segment safety ratings to encourage a driver to drivea safer route. More specifically, aspects of the disclosure relate todetermining a road segment safety rating based on historical roadsegment data and/or driving behavior data of an operator of a vehicle,determining whether the road segment safety rating is above apre-determined threshold, providing one or more alternate road segmentsto a user, providing insurance incentives to a user based on whether thedriver traveled along a road segment having the safest road segmentsafety rating, and/or providing real-time (or near real-time) alerts orwarnings to a user about upcoming safety hazards.

BACKGROUND

Although insurers may vary insurance premiums based on garaging location(by state, county, etc.), there is a need in the art for enhancedsystems and methods to better account for variations in a location-basedrisk to vehicles and subsequently acting accordingly. For example, someinsurers use location-based technology such as GPS (global positioningsatellites) to monitor the location of vehicles. Nevertheless, there isa need in the art for a technique for estimating the risk associatedwith a route using the various aspects disclosed by the presentdisclosure.

Often, when operating a vehicle, drivers do not consider safety of aroad or route they are taking when making decisions on how to arrive ata destination. Rather, drivers often rely on criteria such as fastestroute, shortest distance, etc. to plan a route to a destination. Becausethe amount of data needed to determine a safety rating for a road can betremendous, it is often not practical for individuals to evaluate thesafety of each road, particularly for unfamiliar roads. However, accessto this information could be advantageous. Therefore, there is a benefitin the art for an enhanced method and device for calculating a risk fora road segment and using it to, among other things, mitigate risk.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not anextensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identifykey or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope ofthe disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts ofthe disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the descriptionbelow.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to methods, computer-readable media,systems and apparatuses for determining a road segment safety rating. Insome arrangements, the road segment safety rating may be based onhistorical data associated with the road segment (e.g., accident historydata, traffic volume data, etc.). In other examples, the road segmentsafety rating may be based on historical data as well as drivingbehavior data of the operator of the vehicle. For instance, drivingbehaviors of the user may be determined based on, for instance, sensordata received from the vehicle. This driving behavior data may be usedwith the historical data to determine a road segment safety rating thatis particular or unique to the driver or user. In some examples, theroad segment safety rating may be based on external or environmentalfactors, such as weather, current traffic, accidents, etc. that mayimpact the real-time risk associated with a road segment. Variouscombinations of these factors may also be used to determine a roadsegment safety rating.

In some examples, the determined road segment safety rating may becompared to a threshold. If the road segment safety rating is below thethreshold, the system may generate one or more alternate road segmentsor route for the driver to consider. In some examples, the road segmentsafety rating may be used to determine an insurance premium or one ormore insurance incentives to provide to the user.

In some cases, the road segment safety rating may be determined for aplurality of road segments between the first location and the secondlocation based on historical data associated with the road segments(e.g., accident history data, traffic volume data, etc.) and/or based ondriving behavior data of the operator of the vehicle. An indication ofthe road segment determined as being the safest may be provided to theoperator of the vehicle. An actual route of travel of the vehicle can becaptured and compared to the safest route. If the vehicle has traveledthe safest route, the operator may earn an award. If not, the operatormay be notified that an award may be earned when an indicated safestroute is traveled.

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent fromthe additional description provided herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present disclosure and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative operating environment in accordance withaspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts illustrative steps for calculating the risk value of aroute segment by applying actuarial and/or statistical methods inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 depicts illustrative steps for determining and providing riskvalues to a computing device in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts illustrative steps for calculating the risk value of atravel route in accordance with aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 depicts illustrative steps for providing an insurance policybased on risk consumption in accordance with aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is an example road segment safety rating system according to oneor more aspects described herein;

FIG. 7 is an example road segment safety rating system environmentillustrating various communications between vehicles-based devices, apersonal mobile device, and an insurance system server, according to oneor more aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method of determining aroad segment safety rating according to one or more aspects describedherein;

FIG. 9 is another flow diagram illustrating an example method ofdetermining a road segment safety rating according to one or moreaspects described herein;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are example user interfaces that may be used to notifya user of a road segment safety rating and/or potential alternate roadsegments, according to one or more aspects described herein;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating one example method of identifyinginsurance premiums or incentives based on the determined road segmentsafety ratings, according to one or more aspects described herein;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are example user interfaces for notifying a user of anidentified insurance incentive, according to one or more aspectsdescribed herein;

FIG. 13 illustrates computing systems and a network environment that maybe used to implement aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative road segment safety rating systemaccording to one or more aspects described herein;

FIG. 15 shows a flow diagram illustrating an example method ofidentifying a safest route between a first location and a secondlocation, according to one or more aspects described herein; and

FIGS. 16-26 show illustrative user interfaces displaying informationcorresponding to a determined safest route between the first locationand the second location, system according to one or more aspectsdescribed herein.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art after review of theentirety disclosed that the steps illustrated in the figures listedabove may be performed in other than the recited order, and that one ormore steps illustrated in these figures may be optional.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration, various embodiments of thedisclosure that may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art upon reading thefollowing disclosure, various aspects described herein may be embodiedas a method, a computer system, or a computer program product.Accordingly, those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardwareembodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combiningsoftware and hardware aspects. Furthermore, such aspects may take theform of a computer program product stored by one or morecomputer-readable storage media having computer-readable program code,or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitablecomputer-readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various signals representing data orevents as described herein may be transferred between a source and adestination in the form of electromagnetic waves traveling throughsignal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/orwireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a new set of pricing tiersare disclosed herein for enabling safe driving and lower rates forinsurance policy customers. In addition, various approaches to helpingusers mitigate risk are presented. In accordance with aspects of theinvention, a computing device is disclosed for generating risk values ina data store. The system may receive various types of information,including but not limited to, accident information, geographicinformation, and vehicle information, from one or more data sources andcalculate a risk value for associated road segments. Subsequently, thecomputing device may provide the associated risk value when providedwith location information for a road segment such as regional locationinformation and/or other information.

In an alternate embodiment in accordance with aspects of the invention,a personal navigation device, mobile device, and/or personal computingdevice may communicate with the database of risk values. The devices mayreceive information about a travel route and use that information toretrieve risk values for road segments in the travel route. Theaggregate of the risk values is sent for display on a screen of thedevice or for recording in memory of the device. The contents of memorymay also be uploaded to a data store for use by, e.g., insurancecompanies, to determine whether to adjust a quote for insurance coverageor one or more aspects of current insurance coverage such as premium,specific coverages, specific exclusions, rewards, special terms, etc.

In yet another embodiment, in accordance with aspects of the invention,a personal navigation device, mobile device, and/or personal computingdevice may access the database of risk values to assist in identifyingand presenting alternate low-risk travel routes. The driver may selectamong the various travel routes presented, taking into account his/hertolerance for risk. Depending on the driver's selection, the vehicle'sinsurance policy may be adjusted accordingly, for either the currentinsurance policy or a future insurance policy.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example of a suitable operating environment inwhich various aspects of the invention may be implemented is shown inthe architectural diagram of FIG. 1. The operating environment is onlyone example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Other operating environments, systems, and the like will bedescribed herein (e.g., in association with FIG. 13). The operatingenvironment may be comprised of one or more data sources 104, 106 incommunication with a computing device 102. The computing device 102 mayuse information communicated from the data sources 104, 106 to generatevalues that may be stored in a conventional database format. In oneembodiment, the computing device 102 may be a high-end server computerwith one or more processors 114 and memory 116 for storing andmaintaining the values generated. The memory 116 storing and maintainingthe values generated need not be physically located in the computingdevice 102. Rather, the memory (e.g., ROM, flash memory, hard drivememory, RAID memory, etc.) may be located in a remote data store (e.g.,memory storage area) physically located outside the computing device102, but in communication with the computing device 102.

A personal computing device 108 (e.g., a personal computer, tablet PC,handheld computing device, personal digital assistant, mobile device,etc.) may communicate with the computing device 102. Similarly, apersonal navigation device 110 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS),geographic information system (GIS), satellite navigation system, mobiledevice, other location tracking device, etc.) may communicate with thecomputing device 102. The communication between the computing device 102and the other devices 108, 110 may be through wired or wirelesscommunication networks and/or direct links. One or more networks may bein the form of a local area network (LAN) that has one or more of thewell-known LAN topologies and may use a variety of different protocols,such as Ethernet. One or more of the networks may be in the form of awide area network (WAN), such as the Internet. The computing device 102and other devices (e.g., devices 108, 110) may be connected to one ormore of the networks via twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, fiberoptics, radio waves or other media. The term “network” as used hereinand depicted in the drawings should be broadly interpreted to includenot only systems in which devices and/or data sources are coupledtogether via one or more communication paths, but also stand-alonedevices that may be coupled, from time to time, to such systems thathave storage capability.

In another embodiment in accordance with aspects of the invention, apersonal navigation device 110 may operate in a stand-alone manner bylocally storing some of the database of values stored in the memory 116of the computing device 102. For example, a personal navigation device110 (e.g., a GPS in an automobile) may be comprised of a processor,memory, and/or input devices 118/output devices 120 (e.g., keypad,display screen, speaker, etc.). The memory may be comprised of anon-volatile memory that stores a database of values used in calculatingan estimated route risk for identified routes. Therefore, the personalnavigation device 110 need not communicate with a computing device 102located at, for example, a remote location in order to calculateidentified routes. Rather, the personal navigation device 110 may behavein a stand-alone manner and use its processor to calculate route riskvalues of identified routes. If desired, the personal navigation device110 may be updated with an updated database of values after a period oftime (e.g., an annual patch with new risk values determined over theprior year).

In yet another embodiment in accordance with aspects of the invention, apersonal computing device 108 may operate in a stand-alone manner bylocally storing some of the database of values stored in the memory 116of the computing device 102. For example, a personal computing device108 may be comprised of a processor, memory, input device (e.g., keypad,CD-ROM drive, DVD drive, etc.), and output device (e.g., display screen,printer, speaker, etc.). The memory may be comprised of CD-ROM mediathat stores values used in calculating an estimated route risk for anidentified route. Therefore, the personal computing device 108 may usethe input device to read the contents of the CD-ROM media in order tocalculate a value for the identified route. Rather, the personalcomputing device 108 may behave in a stand-alone manner and use itsprocessor to calculate a route risk value. If desired, the personalcomputing device 108 may be provided with an updated database of values(e.g., in the form of updated CD-ROM media) after a period of time. Oneskilled in the art will appreciate that personal computing device 108,110, 112 need not be personal to a single user; rather, they may beshared among members of a family, company, etc.

The data sources 104, 106 may provide information to the computingdevice 102. In one embodiment in accordance with aspects of theinvention, a data source may be a computer which contains memory storingdata and is configured to provide information to the computing device102. Some examples of providers of data sources in accordance withaspects of the invention include, but are not limited to, insurancecompanies, third-party insurance data providers, government entities,state highway patrol departments, local law enforcement agencies, statedepartments of transportation, federal transportation agencies, trafficinformation services, road hazard information sources, constructioninformation sources, weather information services, geographicinformation services, vehicle manufacturers, vehicle safetyorganizations, and environmental information services. For privacyprotection reasons, in some embodiments of the invention, access to theinformation in the data sources 104, 106 may be restricted to onlyauthorized computing devices 102 and for only permissible purposes. Forexample, access to the data sources 104, 106 may be restricted to onlythose persons/entities that have signed an agreement (e.g., anelectronic agreement) acknowledging their responsibilities with regardto the use and security to be accorded this information.

The computing device 102 uses the information from the data sources 104,106 to generate values that may be used to calculate an estimated routerisk. Some examples of the information that the data sources 104, 106may provide to the computing device 102 include, but are not limited to,accident information, geographic information, and other types ofinformation useful in generating a database of values for calculating anestimated route risk.

Some examples of accident information include, but are not limited to,loss type, applicable insurance coverage(s) (e.g., bodily injury,property damage, medical/personal injury protection, collision,comprehensive, rental reimbursement, towing), loss cost, number ofdistinct accidents for the segment, time relevancy validation, cause ofloss (e.g., turned left into oncoming traffic, ran through red light,rear-ended while attempting to stop, rear-ended while changing lanes,sideswiped during normal driving, sideswiped while changing lanes,accident caused by tire failure (e.g., blow-out), accident caused byother malfunction of car, rolled over, caught on fire or exploded,immersed into a body of water or liquid, unknown, etc.), impact type(e.g., collision with another automobile, collision with cyclist,collision with pedestrian, collision with animal, collision with parkedcar, etc.), drugs or alcohol involved, pedestrian involved, wildlifeinvolved, type of wildlife involved, speed of vehicle at time ofincident, direction the vehicle is traveling immediately before theincident occurred, date of incident, time of day, night/day indicator(i.e., whether it was night or day at the time of the incident),temperature at time of incident, weather conditions at time of incident(e.g., sunny, downpour rain, light rain, snow, fog, ice, sleet, hail,wind, hurricane, etc.), road conditions at time of incident (e.g., wetpavement, dry pavement, etc.), and location (e.g., geographiccoordinates, closest address, zip code, etc.) of vehicle at time ofincident.

Accident information associated with vehicle accidents may be stored ina database format and may be compiled per segment. One skilled in theart will understand that the term segment may be interchangeably used todescribe a road segment, intersection, round about, bridge, tunnel,ramp, parking lot, railroad crossing, or other feature that a vehiclemay encounter along a route.

Time relevancy validation relates to the relevancy of historicalaccident information associated with a particular location. Timerelevancy validation information may be dynamically created by comparingthe time frames of accident information to the current date. Forexample, if a location or route had many collisions prior to five yearsago but few since, perhaps a road improvement reduced the risk (such asadding a traffic light). Time relevancy information may be generatedremotely and transmitted by a data source 104, 106 to the computingdevice 102 like other information. Alternatively, time relevancyinformation may be calculated at the computing device 102 using otherinformation transmitted by a data source 104, 106. For example, theappropriateness of historical information may be related to the timeframe into which the information belongs. Examples of time frames mayinclude, but are not limited to, less than 1 year ago, 1 year ago, 2years ago, 3 years ago, 4 years ago, 5 to 10 years ago, and greater than10 years ago. In one embodiment, the more recent the historicalinformation, the greater weight is attributed to the information.

Some examples of geographic information include, but are not limited to,location information and attribute information. Examples of attributeinformation include, but are not limited to, information aboutcharacteristics of a corresponding location described by some locationinformation: posted speed limit, construction area indicator (i.e.,whether location has construction), topography type (e.g., flat, rollinghills, steep hills, etc.), road type (e.g., residential, interstate,4-lane separated highway, city street, country road, parking lot, etc.),road feature (e.g., intersection, gentle curve, blind curve, bridge,tunnel), number of intersections, whether a roundabout is present,number of railroad crossings, whether a passing zone is present, whethera merge is present, number of lanes, width of road/lanes, populationdensity, condition of road (e.g., new, worn, severely damaged withsink-holes, severely damaged with erosion, gravel, dirt, paved, etc.),wildlife area, state, county, and/or municipality. Geographicinformation may also include other attribute information about roadsegments, intersections, bridges, tunnels, railroad crossings, and otherroadway features.

Location information for an intersection may include the latitude andlongitude (e.g., geographic coordinates) of the geometric center of theintersection. The location may be described in other embodiments using aclosest address to the actual desired location or intersection. Theintersection (i.e., location information) may also include informationthat describes the geographic boundaries, for example, of theintersection which includes all information that is associated within acircular area defined by the coordinates of the center of theintersection and points within a specified radius of the center. Inanother example of location information, a road segment may be definedby the latitude and longitude of its endpoints and/or an area defined bythe road shape and a predetermined offset that forms a polygon. Segmentsmay comprise intersections, bridges, tunnels, rail road crossings orother roadway types and features. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that segments can be defined in many ways without departingfrom the spirit of this disclosed invention.

Some examples of vehicle information include, but are not limited to,information that describes vehicles that are associated with incidents(e.g., vehicle accidents, etc.) at a particular location (e.g., alocation corresponding to location information describing a segment,intersection, etc.) Vehicle information may include vehicle make,vehicle model, vehicle year, and age. Vehicle information may alsoinclude information collected through one or more in-vehicle devices orsystems such as an event data recorder (EDR), onboard diagnostic system,or global positioning satellite (GPS) device; examples of thisinformation include speed at impact, brakes applied, throttle position,direction at impact, whether lights are on, whether windshield wipersare on, whether airbag deployed, etc. As is clear from the precedingexamples, vehicle information may also include information about thedriver of a vehicle being driven at the time of an incident. Otherexamples of driver information may include age, gender, marital status,occupation, alcohol level in blood, credit score, distance from home,cell phone usage (i.e., whether the driver was using a cell phone at thetime of the incident), number of occupants.

In one embodiment in accordance with aspects of the invention, a datasource 104 may provide the computing device 102 with accidentinformation that is used to generate values (e.g., create new valuesand/or update existing values). The computing device 102 may use atleast part of the received accident information to calculate a value,associate the value with a road segment (or other location information),and store the value in a database format. One skilled in the art willappreciate, after thorough review of the entirety disclosed herein, thatthere may be other types of information that may be useful in generatinga database of values for use in, among other things, calculating anestimated route risk.

For example, in accordance with aspects of the invention, a data source104 may provide the computing device 102 with geographic informationthat is used to generate new roadway feature risk values in a databaseof risk values and/or update existing risk values; where the roadwayfeature may comprise intersections, road segments, tunnels, bridges, orrailroad crossings. Attributes associated with roadways may also be usedin part to generate risk values. The computing device 102 may use atleast part of the received geographic information to calculate a value,associate the value with a road segment (or other location information),and store the value in a database format. Numerous examples ofgeographic information were provided above. For example, a computingdevice 102 may receive geographic information corresponding to a roadsegment comprising accident information and roadway feature informationand then calculate a risk value. Therefore, when calculating a riskvalue, the system may use, in one example, the geographic informationand the accident information (if any accident information is provided).In alternative embodiments in accordance with aspects of the invention,the computing device may use accident information, geographicinformation, vehicle information, and/or other information, either aloneor in combination, in calculating risk values in a database format.

The values generated by the computing device 102 may be associated witha road segment containing the accident location and stored in a datastore. Similar to a point of interest (POI) stored in GPS systems, apoint of risk (POR) is a road segment or point on a map that has riskinformation associated with it. Points of risk may arise becauseincidents (e.g., accidents) have occurred at these points before. Inaccordance with aspects of the invention, the road segment may be apredetermined length (e.g., ¼ mile) on a stretch of road. Alternatively,road segments may be points (i.e., where the predetermined length isminimal) on a road. Furthermore, in some embodiments, road segment mayinclude one or more different roads that are no farther than apredetermined radius from a road segment identifier. Such an embodimentmay be beneficial in a location, for example, where an unusually largenumber of streets intersect, and it may be impractical to designate asingle road for a road segment.

Referring to FIG. 2, in accordance with aspects of the invention, acomputing device 102 may receive accident information (in step 202),geographic information (in step 204), and/or vehicle information (instep 206). The computing device 102 may calculate (in step 212) the riskvalue for a road segment (or point of risk) by applying actuarialtechniques to the information that may be received from data sources104, 106. In one embodiment, the computing device 102 receives andstores the accident information in a data store with thelatitude/longitude and time of the incident. The accident data isassociated with a location and combined with other accident dataassociated with the same location (in step 210). Applying actuarialand/or statistical modeling techniques involving multiple predictors,such as generalized linear models and non-linear models, a risk valuemay be calculated (212), and the calculated risk value may be recordedin memory (116) (in step 214). The multiple predictors involved in thestatistical model used to calculate a risk value may include accidentinformation, geographic information, and vehicle information.Associating the risk value (in step 208) with a line segment and/orpoint which best pinpoints the area of the road in which the incident(s)occurred may be accomplished by using established GIS locatingtechnology (e.g., GPS ascertaining a geographically determinableaddress, and assigning the data file to a segment's or intersection'sformal address determined by the system). For example, two or moreaccidents located in an intersection or road segment may have slightlydifferent addresses depending on where within the intersection orsegment the accident location was determined to be. Therefore, thesystem may identify a location based on business rules. In anotherexample business rules may identify an incident location using theaddress of the nearest intersection. In yet another example the systemmay identify the location of an incident on a highway using segmentsbased on mileage markers or the lengths may be dynamically determined bycreating segment lengths based on relatively equal normalized riskvalues. Therefore, roadways that have stretches with higher numbers ofaccidents may have shorter segments than stretches that have feweraccidents. In another example, if the incident occurred in a parkinglot, the entire parking lot may be associated with a formal address thatincludes all accidents located within a determined area. One skilled inthe art will appreciate after review of the entirety disclosed that roadsegment includes a segment of road, a point on a road, and otherdesignations of a location (e.g., an entire parking lot).

For example, an insurance claim-handling processor may collect dataabout numerous incidents such as collision, theft, weather damage, andother events that cause any one of (or combination of) personal injury,vehicle damage, and damage to other vehicles or property. Informationabout the accident may be collected through artifacts such as firstnotice of loss (FNOL) reports and claim adjuster reports and may bestored in one or more data stores used by the insurer. Other data mayalso be collected at the point and time when the incident occurred, andthis information (e.g., weather conditions, traffic conditions, vehiclespeed, etc.) may be stored with the other accident information. Theinformation in these data stores may be distributed by data sources 104,106 in accordance with aspects of the invention. In addition, someinformation may also be recorded in third-party data sources that may beaccessible to one or more insurance companies. For example, trafficinformation (e.g., traffic volume) and weather information may beretrieved in real-time (or near real-time) from their respective datasources.

Referring to FIG. 3, in accordance with aspects of the invention, thecomputing device 102 may send (in step 312) the risk value correspondingto a road segment when it receives location information (in step 302)requesting the risk associated with a particular location. Theparticular location information may be in the form of longitude/latitudecoordinates, street address, intersection, closest address, or otherform of information. Furthermore, in an alternative embodiment theaccuracy of the risk value may be improved by submitting the directionthat a vehicle travels (or may travel) through a road segment. Thecomputing device 102 may receive (in step 304) the vehicle direction anduse it to determine the risk value associated with the vehicle route.For example, a dangerous intersection demonstrates high risk to avehicle/driver that passes through it. However, actuarial analysis(e.g., of data showing many recorded accidents at the location) may showthat it is more dangerous if the driver is traveling northbound on theroad segment and turns left. Therefore, the vehicle direction may alsobe considered when retrieving the appropriate risk value (in step 310).

Likewise, the computing device 102 may also receive (in step 308) otherinformation to enhance the accuracy of the risk value associated with atravel route. For example, the computing device 102 may receive (in step306) the time of day when the driver is driving (or plans to drive)through a particular travel route. This information may improve theaccuracy of the risk value retrieved (in step 310) for the travel route.For example, a particular segment of road through a wilderness area mayhave a higher rate of accidents involving deer during the night hours,but no accidents during the daylight hours. Therefore, the time of daymay also be considered when retrieving the appropriate risk value (instep 310). In addition, the computing device may receive (in step 308)other information to improve the accuracy of the risk value retrieved(in step 310) for a travel route. Some examples of this otherinformation include, but are not limited to, the vehicle's speed (e.g.,a vehicle without a sport suspension attempting to take a dangerouscurve at a high speed), vehicle's speed compared to the posted speedlimit, vehicle's speed compared to typical or average speed, etc.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a computer-readable mediumstoring computer-executable instructions for performing the stepsdepicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 and/or described in the present disclosure iscontemplated. The computer-executable instructions may be configured forexecution by a processor (e.g., processor 114 in computing device 102)and stored in a memory (e.g., memory 116 in computing device 102).Furthermore, as explained earlier, the computer-readable medium may beembodied in a non-volatile memory (e.g., in a memory in personalnavigation device 110) or portable media (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, USBflash, etc. connected to personal computing device 108).

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a personal navigationdevice 110 may calculate a route risk value for a travel route of avehicle. The personal navigation device 110 may be located, for example,in a driver's vehicle or in a mobile device 112 with location trackingcapabilities. Alternatively, a personal computing device 108 may be usedto calculate the route risk value for a travel route of a vehicle.

For example, referring to FIG. 4, a personal navigation device 110 mayreceive (in step 402) travel route information. The travel routeinformation may include, but is not limited to, a start location, endlocation, road-by-road directions, and/or turn-by-turn directions. Thepersonal navigation device 110 may use the travel route information andmapping software to determine the road segment upon which the vehiclewill travel, and retrieve (in step 404) the risk value for that roadsegment. For each subsequent road segment remaining in the travel route(see step 406), the personal navigation device 110 may access thedatabase of risk values to retrieve (in step 404) the risk value forthat road segment. As explained earlier, the database of risk values maybe stored locally to the personal navigation device 110, or may bestored remotely and accessed through a wired/wireless link to the datastore.

The risk values retrieved (in step 404) for the travel route may beaggregated (in step 408) and a total risk value for the travel route maybe sent (in step 410). In an alternate embodiment, the computing device102 may count the number of each type of road risk along the travelroute based on the values stored in the database. This number may thenbe multiplied by a risk-rating factor for the respective risk type. Arisk type may comprise intersections, locations of past accidents alonga route, railroad crossings, merges, roadway class (residential, local,commercial, rural, highways, limited access highways). Other risk typesmay include proximity to businesses that sell alcohol, churches or bingoparlors.

The sum of this product over all risk types may, in this alternateembodiment, equal the total route risk value. The total route risk valuemay be divided by the distance traveled to determine the route riskcategory for the travel route. For example, a route risk category may beassigned based on a set of route risk value ranges for low, medium, andhigh risk routes.

After being aggregated, the total risk value may be sent (in step 410)to a viewable display on the personal navigation device 110 or may beaudible via a voice alert. Alternatively, the total risk value may besent (in step 410) to a local/remote memory where it may be recordedand/or monitored. For example, it may be desirable for a safe driver tohave her total risk value for all travel routes traveled over a timeperiod to be uploaded to an insurance company's data store. Theinsurance company may then identify the driver as a lower-risk driver(e.g., a driver that travels on statistically lower-risk routes duringlower-risk times) and provide the driver/vehicle with a discount and/orcredit (in step 412) on an existing insurance policy (or towards afuture insurance policy). At least one benefit of the aforementioned isthat safe drivers are rewarded appropriately, while high-risk driversare treated accordingly.

In some embodiments in accordance with aspects of the invention, theroute risk value sent (in step 410) may be in the form of a numberrating the risk of the travel route (e.g., a rating of 1 to 100 where 1is very low risk and 100 is very high risk). Alternatively, the routerisk value may be in the form of a predetermined category (e.g., lowrisk, medium risk, and high risk). At least one benefit of displayingthe route risk value in this form is the simplicity of the resultingdisplay for the driver. For example, an enhanced GPS unit may display aroute (or segment of a route) in a red color to designate a high riskroute, and a route may be displayed in a green color to designate alower risk route. At least one benefit of a predetermined category forthe route risk value is that it may be used as the means for comparingthe amount of risk associated with each travel route when providingalternate routes. In addition, the enhanced GPS unit may alert thedriver of a high risk road segment and offer the driver an incentive(e.g., monetary incentive, points, etc.) for avoiding that segment.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a computer-readable mediumstoring computer-executable instructions for performing the stepsdepicted in FIG. 4 and/or described in the present disclosure iscontemplated. The computer-executable instructions may be configured forexecution by a processor (e.g., a processor in personal navigationdevice 110) and stored in a memory (e.g., flash memory in device 110).

When retrieving risk values, in accordance with aspects of theinvention, one or more techniques, either alone or in combination, maybe used for identifying and calculating the appropriate risk value forroad segments. For example, under an accident cost severity rating(ACSR) approach, each point of risk has a value which measures howsevere the average accident is for each point of risk. The value may benormalized and/or scaled by adjusting the range of the values. Forexample, under an ACSR approach using a range of values from 1 to 10:considering all accidents that occur in a predetermined area (e.g., roadsegment, state, zip code, municipality, etc.), the accidents in the topten percentile of expensive accidents in that territory would get a 10value and the lowest 10 percentile of costly accidents in that regionwould get a 1 value. The actual loss cost may be calculated by summingthe various itemized loss costs (e.g., bodily injury, property damage,medical/personal injury protection, collision, comprehensive,uninsured/underinsured motorist, rental reimbursement, towing, etc.).

In an alternate embodiment, the ACSR approach may attribute varyingweights to the different types of loss costs summed to calculate theactual loss cost. For example, after analyzing the information, certainportions of a loss cost (e.g., medical cost) may indicate risk moreaccurately than others. The importance of these portions may be weightedmore heavily in the final loss cost calculation. Actuarial methods maybe used to adjust loss cost data for a segment where a fluke accidentmay cause the calculated risk value to far exceed the risk value basedon all the other data.

Under the accidents per year (APYR) approach, in accordance with aspectsof the invention, each point of risk has a risk value that may reflectthe average number of accidents a year for that individual point ofrisk. Under a modified APYR approach, the risk value for a point of riskcontinues to reflect the average number of accidents a year, butattributes a lesser weight to accidents that occurred a longer time ago,similar to time relevancy validation (e.g., it gives emphasis to recentaccident occurrences over older occurrences).

Under the risk severity (RSR) approach, in accordance with aspects ofthe invention, each point of risk has a risk value that may reflect theseverity of risk for that individual point of risk. For example, anintersection that is a frequent site of vehicle accident related deathsmay warrant a very high risk value under the RSR approach. In oneembodiment, risk severity rating may be based on accident frequency atintersections or in segments over a determined period of time. Inanother embodiment, the rating may be based on loss costs associated tointersections and segments. Yet another embodiment may combine accidentfrequency and severity to form a rating for a segment or intersection.One skilled in the art can recognize that risk severity ratings may bebased on one or a combination of factors associated with intersectionsor segments.

Under the Environmental Risk Variable (ERV) approach, in accordance withaspects of the invention, each point of risk has a risk value that mayreflect any or all information that is not derived from recordedaccidents and/or claims, but that may be the (direct or indirect) causeof an accident. In one embodiment, the risk value under the ERV approachmay be derived from vehicle information transmitted by a data source104, 106. In an alternate embodiment, the EVR approach may use compoundvariables based on the presence or absence of multiple riskconsiderations which are known to frequently, or severely, causeaccidents. A compound variable is one that accounts for the interactionsof multiple risk considerations, whether environmental or derived fromrecorded accidents and/or claims. For example, driving through awildlife crossing zone at dusk would generate a greater risk value thandriving through this same area at noon. The interaction of time of dayand location would be the compound variable. Another example mayconsider current weather conditions, time of day, day of the year, andtopography of the road. A compound variable may be the type ofinfrequent situation which warrants presenting a verbal warning to adriver (e.g., using a speaker system in a personal navigation device 110mounted in a vehicle) of a high risk route (e.g., a high risk roadsegments).

Another possible approach may be to calculate the route risk value usingone or more of the approaches described above divided by the length ofthe route traveled. This may provide an average route risk value for usein conjunction with a mileage rating plan. In one embodiment, the systemcombines route risk and conventional mileage data to calculate risk permile rating.

In one embodiment, a device in a vehicle (e.g., personal navigationdevice 110, mobile device 112, etc.) may record and locally store theroute and/or the route and time during which a route was traveled. Thistravel route information may be uploaded via wireless/wired means (e.g.,cell phones, manually using a computer port, etc.). This travel routeinformation may be used to automatically query a data source 104, 106for route rating information and calculate a total risk value.

Some accident data may be recorded and locally stored on a device (e.g.,personal navigation device 110, mobile device 112, etc.) that providesincident location and a timestamp that can be used to synchronize otherdata located in data sources 104 and 106. The captured information maybe periodically uploaded to computing device 102 for further processingof accident data for updating the road segment database in memory 116.In some embodiments, the other data may include local weatherconditions, vehicle density on the roadway, and traffic signal status.Additional information comprising data from an in-vehicle monitoringsystem (e.g., event data recorder or onboard diagnostic system) mayrecord operational status of the vehicle at the time of the incident.Alternatively, if the vehicle did not have a location tracking device,an insurance claims reporter may enter the address and other informationinto the data source manually. If the vehicle was configured with anin-vehicle monitoring system that has IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi capabilities (orany other wireless communication capabilities), the travel routeinformation may be periodically uploaded or uploaded in real-time (ornear real-time) via a computer and/or router. The in-vehicle (oron-board vehicle) monitoring system may be configured to automaticallyupload travel route information (and other information) through a homewireless router to a computer. In some advanced monitoring systems,weather and traffic data (and other useful information) may bedownloaded (in real-time or near real-time) to the vehicle. In someembodiments, it may be desirable to use mobile devices 112 (with therequisite capabilities) to transmit the information, provide GPScoordinates, and stream in data from other sources.

The risk types described above may be variables in a multivariate modelof insurance losses, frequencies, severities, and/or pure premiums.Interactions of the variables would also be considered. The coefficientthe model produces for each variable (along with the coefficient for anyinteraction terms) would be the value to apply to each risk type. Thepersonal navigation device 110 may initially provide thequickest/shortest route from a start location A to an end location B,and then determine the route risk value by determining either the sumproduct of the number of each risk type and the value for that risk typeor the overall product of the number of each risk type and the value forthat risk type. (Traffic and weather conditions could either be includedor excluded from the determination of the route risk value forcomparison of routes. If not included, an adjustment may be made to theroute risk value once the route has been traveled). The driver may bepresented with an alternate route which is less risky than the initialroute calculated, as will be discussed more fully herein. The personalnavigation device 110 may display the difference in risk between thealternate routes and permit the driver to select the preferred route. Insome embodiments in accordance with the invention, a driver/vehicle maybe provided a monetary benefit (e.g., a credit towards a futureinsurance policy) for selecting a less risky route.

In one example in accordance with aspects of the invention, a driver mayenter a starting location and an end location into a personal navigationdevice 110. The personal navigation device 110 may present the driverwith an illustrative 2-mile route that travels on a residential roadnear the following risks: 5 intersections, 3 past accident sites, 1railroad crossing, and 1 lane merging site. Assuming for illustrativepurposes that the following risk values apply to the following risktypes:

Risk Type Risk-rating Factor Intersections 55 Past Accidents 30 RailroadCrossing 5 Merge 60 Residential Road 2 per mile

Then, the route risk value for the entire 2-mile route may becalculated, in one embodiment of the invention, as follows:

Risk Type Risk-rating Factor Count Product Intersections 55 5  55 * 5 =275 Past Accidents 30 3 30 * 3 = 90 Railroad Crossing 5 1 5 * 1 = 5Merge 60 1 60 * 1 = 60 Residential Road 2 per mile 2 2 * 2 = 4 Sum Total434

Assuming a route risk value between 0 and 350 (per mile) is categorizedas a low-risk route, then the aforementioned 2-mile route's risk valueof 217 (i.e., 434 divided by 2) classifies it a low-risk route.

In some embodiments, for rating purposes the route risk value mayconsider the driving information of the driver/vehicle. For example, thepersonal navigation device 110 (or other device) may record the routetaken, as well as the time of day/month/year, weather conditions,traffic conditions, and the actual speed driven compared to the postedspeed limit. The current weather and traffic conditions may be recordedfrom a data source 104, 106. Weather conditions and traffic conditionsmay be categorized to determine the risk type to apply. The posted speedlimits may be included in the geographic information. For each segmentof road with a different posted speed limit, the actual speed driven maybe compared to the posted speed limit. The difference may be averagedover the entire distance of the route. In addition, various techniquesmay be used to handle the amount of time stopped in traffic, at trafficlights, etc. One illustrative technique may be to only count the amountof time spent driving over the speed limit and determine the averagespeed over the speed limit during that time. Another illustrative methodmay be to exclude from the total amount of time the portion where thevehicle is not moving. Then, upon completion of the trip, the route riskvalue may be calculated and stored in memory along with the otherinformation related to the route risk score and mileage traveled. Thisinformation may later be transmitted to an insurance company's datastore, as was described above.

In another embodiment in accordance with aspects of the invention, realtime data may be used to dynamically assign risk values to each point ofrisk. For example, some road segments may have a higher risk value whena vehicle travels through at a time when, e.g., snowfall is heavy. Insuch situations, a dynamic risk value may be applied to the road segmentto determine the appropriate route risk value to assign to the route.

Referring to FIG. 5, in accordance with aspects of the invention, amethod of selling a vehicular insurance policy is illustrated. A vehicleowner or driver may be provided (in step 502) with an insurance policywith a total risk score. The total risk score (e.g., 500) indicates thequantity of risk the vehicle is permitted to travel through before theinsurance policy must be renewed or becomes terminated. For example, asthe vehicle is driven over various travel routes, the route risk valuesfor the road segments traveled are deducted (in step 504) from the totalrisk score of the insurance policy. The vehicle owner and/or driver maybe provided (in step 506) an option to renew the insurance policy (e.g.,to purchase additional risk points to apply towards the total risk scoreof the insurance policy). Once the total risk score falls to zero orunder (see step 508), the vehicle owner and/or driver (or any otherperson/entity authorized to renew the policy) is provided (in step 510)with a final option to renew the insurance policy before the insurancepolicy terminates (in step 512). It will be apparent to one skilled inthe art after review of the entirety disclosed that the embodimentillustrated above may benefit from a personal navigation device 110 (orsimilar device) to monitor and record the route traveled by a vehicle.At least one benefit of the insurance policy illustrated by FIG. 5 isthe ability to pay per quantity of risk consumed instead of paying onlya fixed premium.

In another embodiment in accordance with aspects of the invention,route-dependent pricing uses route risk values to adjust insurancepricing based on where a vehicle is driven. Contrary to the embodimentabove where the vehicle's insurance policy terminated dependent on thequantity of risk consumed by the vehicle's travel route, in thisembodiment, an insurance company (or its representatives, e.g., agent)may adjust the price quoted/charged for an insurance policy based onrisk consumed. In this embodiment, a vehicle/driver may be categorizedinto a risk class (e.g., low-risk, medium-risk, high risk, etc.) andcharged for insurance accordingly. For example, the vehicle/driver maybe provided with notification of a credit/debit if the vehicle consumedless/more, respectively, of risk at the end of a policy term than wasinitially purchased.

In another embodiment: the insurance policy is sold and priced in partbased on where a customer falls within a three sigma distribution ofrisk units consumed by all insured per a typical policy period. Thepolicy pricing may be based on an initial assumption of risk to beconsumed in the prospective policy period or may be based on riskconsumed in a preceding policy period. In a case where the number ofrisk units consumed is greater than estimated, the customer may bebilled for the overage at the end of (or during) the policy period. Inyet another embodiment, the system may be provided as a pay-as-you-drivecoverage where the customer is charged in part based on the actual riskunits consumed in the billing cycle. The system may include a telematicsdevice that monitors, records, and periodically transmits theconsumption of risk units to processor 114 that may automatically billor deduct the cost from an account.

While the invention has been described with respect to specific examplesincluding presently exemplary modes of carrying out the invention, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that there are numerous variationsand permutations of the above-described systems and techniques that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative road segment safetyrating system 600. The road segment safety rating system 600 may beassociated with, internal to, operated by, or the like, an entity 601,such as an insurance provider. In some examples, the entity may be oneof various other types of entities, such as a government entity,corporation or business, university, or the like. Various examplesdescribed herein will be discussed in the context of an insuranceprovider. However, nothing in the specification should be viewed aslimiting use of the systems, methods, arrangements, etc. describedherein to use only by an insurance provider.

The road segment safety rating system 600 may include one or moremodules that may include hardware and/or software configured to performvarious functions within the system 600. The one or more modules may beseparate, physical devices or, in other examples, one or more modulesmay be part of the same physical device.

The road segment safety rating system 600 may include a road segmentsafety rating module 602. The road segment safety rating module 602 mayreceive data from one or more data stores, such as data stores 604 and606, and may determine a safety rating for one or more road segments. Insome examples, the safety rating of the road segment may correspond to arisk value of the road segment, as described herein. In other examples,the safety rating of the road segment may be a different valuedetermined as described herein. In some examples, a road segment may besome or all of a particular road. As discussed above, the road segmentsmay have varying lengths or distances, may be formed of variousmaterials, may include various types of roads (e.g., highway, countryroad, etc.), and the like.

As indicated above, at least some of the data used to determine the roadsegment safety rating may be received from one or more data stores. Thedata stores may be associated with or internal to the entity 601, suchas data store 604, or may be external to the entity 601, such as datastore 606. Data that may be used to determine a road segment safetyrating may include historical accident information associated with aparticular road segment, traffic volume information associated with aparticular road segment, severity of accident associated with aparticular road segment (e.g., based on previously received insuranceclaim data), and the like. In some examples, geocoded data may bereceived by the system 600 (e.g., from data store 606) and may be usedto determine a risk value and/or road segment safety rating. In somearrangements, additional information such as type of road segment(2-lane highway, 4-lane highway, rural road, etc.), condition of roadsegment (e.g., newly resurfaced, severely damaged, etc.), and the like(as discussed above), may be used to determine the road segment safetyrating.

Accordingly, some information may be received by the road segment safetyrating module 602 from internal data store 604. The internal data store604 may include information associated with accidents associated withthe road segment, accidents associated with that type of road or one ormore features of the road segment (e.g., number of bends, merging,etc.), severity of accidents associated with the road segment (e.g.,based on insurance claim data), number of accidents associated with theroad segment, time of day of accident, date of accident, and the like.Accident information received from internal data store 604 may becollected from historical accident or claim information of the insuranceprovider entity 601. The internal data store 604 may also includeinformation associated with conditions of the road segment (e.g., potholes, type of road, etc.). In some arrangements, this information maybe received from a telematics device associated with one or morevehicles, and associated sensors detecting such information. Thereceived telematics data may be stored and used to determine, forexample, a road segment safety rating.

External data store 606 may provide additional information to the system600. For instance, external data store may provide additionalinformation associated with the type of road, condition of the road,etc. Further, external data store 606 may include information gatheredfrom various sources regarding accidents associated with the roadsegment, traffic volume associated with the road segment, and the like.As discussed above, the accident information may be received from athird party and/or coded to identify the road segment, type of accident,severity of accident, and the like. In some examples, external datastore 606 may include information associated with environmental orweather conditions surrounding a road segment. Accordingly, a roadsegment safety rating may be generated in real-time, or near real-time,and may include current weather conditions (e.g., rain, snow, fog,etc.). Some example algorithms that may be used to determine a roadsegment safety rating are provided below. The example algorithmsprovided are merely examples and various other algorithms may be used todetermine road segment safety rating without departing from theinvention.

In some examples, the road segment safety rating may be based on staticvariables (e.g., variables that do not change rapidly or frequently).For instance, one example algorithm may be:

Road safety rating=exp(prior accident frequency on the road segment*W₁+road curvature*W ₂+road segment has lane merge*W ₃+road segment hasmerge from left W ₄).

W₁ though W₄ may be weighting factors applied to each variable.

In other examples, the road segment safety rating may be based on acombination of static factors (similar to the equation above) as well assome dynamic road factors (e.g., factors associated with the roadsegment that may change rapidly or frequently). For instance,

Road segment safety rating=exp(prior accident frequency on the roadsegment*W ₁+road curvature*W ₂+road segment has lane merge*W ₃+roadsegment has merge from left*W ₄+road segment has construction*W ₅+numberof inches of snow on road segment*W ₆+road segment is wet*W ₇+trafficfactor*W ₈).

In this example algorithm, W₁ though W₈ represent weighting factors andvariables such as road segment has construction, number of inches ofsnow on road segment, road segment is wet, and traffic factor may bedynamic factors used in combination with the static factors describedabove.

In still other examples, the road segment safety rating may be based onstatic factors, dynamic factors, as well as one or more driver behaviorfactors. For instance,

Road segment safety rating=exp(prior accident frequency on the roadsegment*W ₁+road curvature*W ₂+road segment has lane merge*W ₃+roadsegment has merge from left*W ₄+road segment has construction*W ₅+numberof inches of snow on road segment*W ₆+road segment is wet*W ₇+trafficfactor*W ₈+(road curvature*driver takes curves fast*W ₉)+(number ofinches of snow*driver brakes hard*W ₁₀)).

In this example, W₁ through W₁₀ are weighting factors and variables suchas “driver takes curve fast” and “driver brakes hard” are exampledriving behaviors that may be used to determine a road segment safetyrating particular to a driver.

As indicated above, various other algorithms, various differentweighting factors, additional or different variables, etc. may be usedwithout departing from the invention. The above-described algorithms aremerely some examples of algorithms that may be used to determine a roadsegment safety rating and should not be viewed as limiting the inventionto only those example algorithms provided.

Accordingly, the road segment safety rating module 602 may detect alocation of a vehicle (e.g., via global positioning system (GPS) datacollected from the vehicle) and may identify a road segment associatedwith the location of the vehicle. This identification of the roadsegment may be performed by comparing the location coordinates from thevehicle to location coordinates of roads obtained, for example, from amapping company or form analysis of many vehicle's location coordinatesover time. The road segment safety rating module 602 may then receivedata from various data stores, such as data store 604 and/or data store606, and may generate a road segment safety rating for the identifiedroad segment. The safety rating may be transmitted to a computing deviceof a user, such as one or more of computing devices 608 a-608 f. Forinstance, the road segment safety rating may be transmitted to a smartphone 608 a, personal digital assistance 608 b, tablet computing device608 c, cell phone 608 d, on-board vehicle computing device 608 f, orother computing device 608 e.

In some arrangements, the road segment safety rating may be generated bythe road segment safety module 602 based on data associated with theroad segment, as discussed above, as well as data associated with adriver of the vehicle. For instance, driver-specific data may bereceived by the road segment safety rating module 602 and may be used inconjunction with the various types of data discussed above, to determinea road segment safety rating for a particular road segment. Forinstance, the system 600 may include a plurality of sensors 610. Thesensors 610 may be any of various types of sensors, as will be discussedmore fully herein. The sensors 610 may be used to obtain data associatedwith driving behaviors of the user, such as hard braking, speeding, andthe like. In another example, one or more sensors may be used to detectenvironmental conditions such as precipitation, humidity, cloud cover,or the like. In still another example, one or more sensors may be usedto determine road conditions or to obtain information from outsidesources (e.g., external databases, or the like) regarding trafficconditions, types of road (e.g., two-lane road, four-lane road), speedlimit of the road, or the like. The data from one or more sensors 610,which may include data from combinations of different types of sensors,may be transmitted to driving behavior module 612 for analysis.

The driving behavior module 612 may analyze sensor data received fromone or more of sensors 610 and may identify one or more drivingbehaviors of a particular driver or operator of the vehicle. Forinstance, the driving behavior module 612 may determine whether the usergenerally drives at a speed over the speed limit, generally follows tooclosely behind a vehicle in front of him, generally brakes hard, and thelike. This information may be transmitted to the road segment safetyrating module 602 for use in determining a safety rating for aparticular road segment.

For instance, the user data received from the driving behavior module612 may be combined with data received from the one or more data stores(e.g., 604, 606) to determine a road segment safety rating that isparticular to, or unique to, the user or current operator of thevehicle. Accordingly, while a particular road segment may have a firstsafety rating for driver 1, the road segment may have a second,different safety rating for driver 2, based on the different drivingbehaviors of driver 1 and driver 2. Thus, any recommendations foralternate routes may account for the type of driving behavior of thecurrent user or operator of the vehicle, as will be discussed more fullyherein.

In some arrangements, raw sensor data (e.g., from one or more of sensors610) may be used in conjunction with other data (e.g., from data store604, 606) to generate the road segment safety rating. For instance, oneor more sensors may be used to detect precipitation. That informationmay be provided to the road segment safety rating module 602 inreal-time, or near real-time, and may be combined with other data (e.g.,accident data, traffic volume data, etc.) for the road segment, and/oruser driving behavior data, to generate or determine the road segmentsafety rating for the road segment. In some examples, based on thisreal-time or near real-time data, any risks identified (e.g., risksappearing along the route being travelled) may be transmitted to theuser, via an audible warning or alert to displayed on a computingdevice, such as an on-board vehicle computing device, mobile device ofthe user, etc. The risks may be unique to the driver based on drivingcharacteristic data collected for the user, as well as current externalor environmental conditions.

Road segment safety rating system 600 may further include arecommendation module 614. The recommendation module 614 may generate,or be configured to generate, one or more recommendations for alternateroad segments that may have a safer rating than, for instance, a roadsegment on which the vehicle is currently travelling or will betravelling. In some examples, historical road segment safety rating datamay be stored, for instance, in a data table. Accordingly, upongenerating a road segment safety rating (e.g., by the road segmentsafety rating module 602), the determined safety rating may betransmitted to the recommendation module 614. The recommendation module614 may evaluate the safety rating to determine whether it is at orabove a pre-determined safety threshold. For instance, a system mayidentify a minimum threshold for road segments to be considered safe. Ifthe determined safety rating is at or above the threshold, therecommendation module 614 may store the rating (e.g., in the data table)for further consideration.

As another example, before the driver starts driving, they may entertheir intended destination (or their probable or expected destinationcould be predicted) into a computing device (e.g., mobile device,on-board vehicle computing device, or the like) which then obtainstravel time and risk estimates for a number of potential road segmentsto be traveled upon. An optimization function may run to determine apath or route from the current location to the destination thatminimizes travel time, road risks, and/or combinations thereof. Forinstance, one example combination of travel time and road risk that maybe used may be: 2.1*travel_time+1.4*road_risk. Other considerations maybe included in this quantity to be minimized such as toll roads, nicescenery to look at, freeways or lack thereof, etc. Weights on thevarious variables in the quantity to be minimized could be entered bythe user before the trip, or could be determined, such as by a computingdevice, over time by observing or collecting data from the driver'strips for a predetermined period of time.

If the recommendation module 614 determines that the safety rating isbelow the pre-determined threshold, the module 614 may identify one ormore alternate road segments that may be used in lieu of the currentroad segment. Identification of alternate road segments may be performedby comparing the current road segment with other road segments in thesame or similar geographic area that have a higher safety rating or asafety rating above the threshold. The recommendation(s) may betransmitted to a user, such as via one or more of computing devices 608a-608 f.

As mentioned above, the recommendation module 614 may also considerdriving behaviors of the driver or operator of the vehicle whengenerating one or more recommendations. For instance, the recommendationmodule 614 may consider driving behavior data, such as that receivedfrom the driving behavior module 612, when identifying alternate roadsegment. For instance, a driver who is identified as generally drivingbelow the speed limit may be provided with alternate road segments thatare lower volume traffic roads, rather than busy highways, in which theuser may be able to proceed more slowly without disrupting traffic orcausing an accident.

The road segment safety rating system 600 may further include aninsurance rate module 616. The insurance rate module 616 may storeinformation associated with various users and insurance policiesassociated with those users. In some examples, road segment safetyrating information may be used to determine an insurance rate for auser. For instance, a history of travelling on higher safety rated roadsegments may be an indication of less risk associated with insuring theuser and, thus, the user may be provided with a lower insurance premiumthan other users who travel on lower safety rated road segments. Inanother example, a user who travels on road segments having a highsafety rating may be provided with a discount or other insuranceincentive for his or her driving behavior. In some arrangements, thesystem may generate and/or offer to the user (e.g., via computing device608) one or more discounts or insurance incentives to implement therecommendations provided by the recommendation module 614.

In some example arrangements, a user may have a pay as you drive type ofinsurance policy. That is, the user may pay for a pool of insurancecredit (e.g., units of credit) that may be reduced based on the drivingbehaviors of the user. Accordingly, in such examples, the insurancecredit may be reduced at a faster rate when the driver is travelling onroad segments with a lower safety rating than road segments with ahigher safety rating.

Although many examples described herein indicate that a higher safetyrating is better or safer than a lower safety rating (e.g., on a scaleof 1-100, a 100 would be a safer rating than a 1), this is merely oneexample road segment safety rating arrangement. Various scales andarrangements (e.g., a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the least safe, etc.)may be used without departing from the invention. Also, as discussedabove, the road segment safety rating may be the same as, or similar tothe risk value discussed above. In other examples, the road segmentsafety rating may be a different value or may be derived from the riskvalue discussed above (e.g., 100−determined risk value=road segmentsafety rating).

The road segment safety rating determined herein may be combined withsafety ratings for a plurality of other road segments to establish anoverall route or trip safety rating. In these examples, the overallsafety rating of a route may be determined and, if the safety rating isbelow a pre-determined threshold, one or more recommendations foralternate routes may be identified and/or communicated to the user.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an illustrative driving analysis system 700including additional aspects of the road segment safety rating system700 shown in FIG. 6 and/or implementing the road segment safety ratingsystem 600 of FIG. 6. The system 700 includes a vehicle 710, a personalmobile device 730, an insurance system server 750, and additionalrelated components. As discussed below, the components of the system700, individually or using communication and collaborative interaction,may determine, present, and implement various types of road segmentsafety ratings to customers, including generating a road segment safetyrating based on road segment data and/or user driving behavior data,determining whether the safety rating is above a pre-determinedthreshold, identifying alternate road segments, and/or communicatingalternate road segments to a user, etc. To perform such features, thecomponents shown in FIG. 7 each may be implemented in hardware,software, or a combination of the two. Additionally, each component ofthe system 700 may include a computing device (or system) having some orall of the structural components described herein for computing device102 in FIG. 1 and/or computing device 1301 in FIG. 13.

Vehicle 710 in the system 700 may be, for example, an automobile, amotorcycle, a scooter, a bus, a recreational vehicle, a boat, or othervehicle for which vehicle data, location data, driver data (or operatordata), operational data and/or other driving data (e.g., location data,time data, weather data, etc.) may be collected and analyzed. Thevehicle 710 includes vehicle operation sensor 711 (similar to one ormore of sensors 610 a-610 c of FIG. 6) capable of detecting andrecording various conditions at the vehicle and operational parametersof the vehicle. For example, sensor 711 may detect and store datacorresponding to the vehicle's location (e.g., GPS coordinates), time,travel time, speed and direction, rates of acceleration or braking, gasmileage, and specific instances of sudden acceleration, braking,swerving, and distance traveled. Sensor 711 also may detect and storedata received from the vehicle's 710 internal systems, such as impact tothe body of the vehicle, air bag deployment, headlights usage, brakelight operation, door opening and closing, door locking and unlocking,cruise control usage, hazard lights usage, windshield wiper usage, hornusage, turn signal usage, seat belt usage, phone and radio usage withinthe vehicle, autonomous driving system usage, maintenance performed onthe vehicle, and other data collected by the vehicle's computer systems,including the vehicle on-board diagnostic systems (OBD).

Additional sensors 711 may detect and store the external drivingconditions, for example, external temperature, rain, snow, light levels,and sun position for driver visibility. For example, external camerasand proximity sensors 711 may detect other nearby vehicles, vehiclespacing, traffic levels, road conditions, traffic obstructions, animals,cyclists, pedestrians, and other conditions that may factor into adriving data/behavior analysis. Sensor 711 also may detect and storedata relating to moving violations and the observance of traffic signalsand signs by the vehicle 710. Additional sensors 711 may detect andstore data relating to the maintenance of the vehicle 710, such as theengine status, oil level, engine coolant temperature, odometer reading,the level of fuel in the fuel tank, engine revolutions per minute(RPMs), software upgrades, and/or tire pressure.

Vehicle sensor 711 also may include cameras and/or proximity sensorscapable of recording additional conditions inside or outside of thevehicle 710. For example, internal cameras may detect conditions such asthe number of the passengers and the types of passengers (e.g. adults,children, teenagers, pets, etc.) in the vehicles, and potential sourcesof driver distraction within the vehicle (e.g., pets, phone usage, andunsecured objects in the vehicle). Sensor 711 also may be configured tocollect data identifying a current driver from among a number ofdifferent possible drivers, for example, based on driver's seat andmirror positioning, driving times and routes, radio usage, etc.Voice/sound data along with directional data also may be used todetermine a seating position within a vehicle 710. Sensor 711 also maybe configured to collect data relating to a driver's movements or thecondition of a driver. For example, vehicle 710 may include sensors thatmonitor a driver's movements, such as the driver's eye position and/orhead position, etc. Additional sensors 711 may collect data regardingthe physical or mental state of the driver, such as fatigue orintoxication. The condition of the driver may be determined through themovements of the driver or through other sensors, for example, sensorsthat detect the content of alcohol in the air or blood alcohol contentof the driver, such as a breathalyzer, along with other biometricsensors.

Certain vehicle sensors 711 also may collect information regarding thedriver's route choice, whether the driver follows a given route, and toclassify the type of trip (e.g. commute, errand, new route, etc.) andtype of driving (e.g., continuous driving, parking, stop-and-go traffic,etc.). In certain embodiments, sensors and/or cameras 711 may determinewhen and how often the vehicle 710 stays in a single lane or strays intoother lane. A Global Positioning System (GPS), locational sensorspositioned inside the vehicle 710, and/or locational sensors or devicesexternal to the vehicle 710 may be used to determine the route, speed,lane position, road-type (e.g. highway, entrance/exit ramp, residentialarea, etc.) and other vehicle position/location data.

The data collected by vehicle sensor 711 may be stored and/or analyzedwithin the vehicle 710, such as for example a driving analysis computer714 integrated into the vehicle, and/or may be transmitted to one ormore external devices. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, sensor data maybe transmitted via short-range communication systems 712 or othercommunication networks (e.g., WAN or cellular networks) to other nearbyvehicles. Additionally, the sensor data may be transmitted via atelematics device 713 to one or more remote computing devices, such aspersonal mobile device 730, insurance system server 750, and/or otherremote devices.

Short-range communication system 712 is a vehicle-based datatransmission system configured to transmit vehicle operational data toother nearby vehicles or infrastructure, and to receive vehicleoperational data from other nearby vehicles. In some examples,communication system 712 may use the dedicated short-rangecommunications (DSRC) protocols and standards to perform wirelesscommunications between vehicles. In the United States, 75 MHz in the5.850-5.925 GHz band have been allocated for DSRC systems andapplications, and various other DSRC allocations have been defined inother countries and jurisdictions. However, short-range communicationsystem 712 need not use DSRC, and may be implemented using othershort-range wireless protocols in other examples, such as WLANcommunication protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth (e.g., IEEE802.15.1), or one or more of the Communication Access for Land Mobiles(CALM) wireless communication protocols and air interfaces. Thevehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) transmissions between short-range communicationsystem 712 and other systems may be sent via DSRC, Bluetooth, satellite,GSM infrared, IEEE 802.11, WiMAX, RFID, and/or any suitable wirelesscommunication media, standards, and protocols. In certain systems,short-range communication system 712 may include specialized hardwareinstalled in vehicles 710 (e.g., transceivers, antennas, etc.), while inother examples the communication system 712 may be implemented usingexisting vehicle hardware components (e.g., radio and satelliteequipment, navigation computers) or may be implemented by softwarerunning on the mobile device 730 of a driver and/or passengers withinthe vehicle 710.

V2V communications also may include vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)communications, such as transmissions from vehicles to non-vehiclereceiving devices, for example, toll booths, rail road crossings, androad-side traffic monitoring devices. Certain V2V communication systemsmay periodically broadcast data from a vehicle 710 to any other vehicle,or other infrastructure device capable of receiving the communication,within the range of the vehicle's transmission capabilities. The rangeof V2V communications and V2I communications may depend on the wirelesscommunication standards and protocols used, the transmission/receptionhardware (e.g., transceivers, power sources, antennas), and otherfactors. Short-range V2V (and V2I) communications may range from just afew feet to many miles, and different types of driving behaviors may bedetermined depending on the range of the V2V communications. Forexample, V2V communications ranging only a few feet may be sufficientfor a driving analysis computing device 714 in one vehicle to determinethat another vehicle is tailgating or cut-off the vehicle, whereaslonger communications may allow the device 714 to determine additionaltypes of driving behaviors (e.g., vehicle spacing, yielding, defensiveavoidance, proper response to a safety hazard, etc.) and drivingconditions (e.g., traffic, road conditions, weather conditions, etc.).

The types of vehicle operational data, or vehicle driving data,transmitted by vehicle 710 may depend on the protocols and standardsused for the V2V and V2I communication, the range of communications, theautonomous driving system, and other factors. In certain examples,vehicles 710 may periodically broadcast corresponding sets of similarvehicle driving data, such as the location (which may include anabsolute location in GPS coordinates or other coordinate systems, and/ora relative location with respect to another vehicle or a fixed point),speed, and direction of travel. In certain examples, the nodes in a V2Vcommunication system (e.g., vehicles and other reception devices) mayuse internal clocks with synchronized time signals, and may sendtransmission times within V2V communications, so that the receiver maycalculate its distance from the transmitting node based on thedifference between the transmission time and the reception time. Thestate or usage of the vehicle's 710 controls and instruments may also betransmitted, for example, whether the vehicle is accelerating, braking,turning, and by how much, and/or which of the vehicle's instruments arecurrently activated by the driver (e.g., head lights, turn signals,hazard lights, cruise control, 4-wheel drive, traction control, etc.).Vehicle warnings such as detection by the vehicle's 710 internal systemsthat the vehicle is skidding, that an impact has occurred, or that thevehicle's airbags have been deployed, also may be transmitted in V2Vcommunications.

As shown in FIG. 7, the data collected by vehicle sensor 711 may betransmitted to an insurance system server 750, personal mobile device730, and/or additional external servers and devices via telematicsdevice 713. Telematics device 713 may be one or more computing devicescontaining many or all of the hardware/software components as thecomputing device 1301 depicted in FIG. 13. As discussed above, thetelematics device 713 may receive vehicle operation data and drivingdata from vehicle sensor 711, and may transmit the data to one or moreexternal computer systems (e.g., insurance system server 750 of aninsurance company, financial institution, or other entity) over awireless transmission network. Telematics device 713 also may beconfigured to detect or determine additional types of data relating toreal-time driving and the condition of the vehicle 710. The telematicsdevice 713 also may store the type of vehicle 710, for example, themake, model, trim (or sub-model), year, and/or engine specifications,autonomous driving system specifications, as well as other informationsuch as vehicle owner or driver information, insurance information, andfinancing information for the vehicle 710.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, telematics device 713 may receivevehicle driving data from vehicle sensor 711, and may transmit the datato an insurance system server 750. However, in other examples, one ormore of the vehicle sensors 711 or systems may be configured to receiveand transmit data directly from or to an insurance system server 750without using a telematics device. For instance, telematics device 713may be configured to receive and transmit data from certain vehiclesensors 711 or systems, while other sensors or systems may be configuredto directly receive and/or transmit data to an insurance system server750 without using the telematics device 713. Thus, telematics device 713may be optional in certain embodiments.

In certain embodiments, vehicle sensors, vehicle on-board diagnosticsystems (OBDs) and other vehicle-based systems and/or vehiclecommunication systems, may collect and/or transmit data pertaining toautonomous driving of the vehicles. In autonomous driving, the vehiclefulfills all or part of the driving without being piloted by a human. Anautonomous car can be also referred to as a driverless car, self-drivingcar, or robot car. For example, in autonomous driving, a vehicle controlcomputer 717 may be configured to operate all or some aspects of thevehicle driving, including but not limited to acceleration, braking,steering, and/or route navigation. A vehicle with an autonomous drivingcapability may sense its surroundings using the vehicle sensor 711and/or receive inputs regarding control of the vehicle from the vehiclecommunications systems, including but not limited to short rangecommunication system 712 telematics device 713, or other vehiclecommunication systems.

The system 700 in FIG. 7 also includes a mobile device 730. Mobiledevice 730 may be, for example, a smartphone or other mobile phone,personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet computer, and the like, and mayinclude some or all of the elements described herein with respect to thecomputing device 1301 in FIG. 13. As shown in this example, some mobiledevices in systems 700 (e.g., mobile device 730) may be configured toestablish communication sessions with vehicle-based devices and variousinternal components of vehicle 710 via wireless networks or wiredconnections (e.g., for docked devices), whereby such mobile device 730may have secure access to internal vehicle sensors 711 and othervehicle-based systems. However, in other examples, the mobile device 730might not connect to vehicle-based computing devices and internalcomponents, but may operate independently by communicating with vehicle710 via their standard communication interfaces (e.g., telematics device713, etc.), or might not connect at all to vehicle 710.

Mobile device 730 may include a network interface 732, which may includevarious network interface hardware (e.g., adapters, modems, wirelesstransceivers, etc.) and software components to enable mobile device 730to communicate with insurance system server 750, vehicle 710, andvarious other external computing devices. One or more specializedsoftware applications, such as a driving analysis application 734 and/ora road segment safety rating application 735 may be stored in the memoryof the mobile device 730. The driving analysis application 734 and roadsegment safety rating application 735 may be received via networkinterface 732 from the insurance server 750, vehicle 710, or otherapplication providers (e.g., application stores). As discussed below,the driving analysis application 734 and road segment safety ratingapplication 735 may or may not include various user interface screens,and may be configured to run as user-initiated applications or asbackground applications. The memory of the mobile device 730 also mayinclude databases configured to receive and store vehicle data, drivingdata, driving trip data, and the like, associated with one or moredrivers and/or vehicles.

Like the vehicle-based computing devices in vehicle 710, mobile device730 also may include various components configured to generate and/orreceive vehicle data, driver data, and driving data or other operationaldata. For example, using data from the GPS receiver 733, a drivinganalysis software application 734 may be able to identify starting andstopping points of driving trips, determine driving speeds, times,routes, road segments, and the like. Additional components of mobiledevice 730 may be used to generate or receive driving data for thedriving data analysis application 734 and/or road segment safety ratingapplication 735, such as an accelerometer, compass, and various camerasand proximity sensors. As discussed below, these and other mobile devicecomponents may be used to receive, store, and output various user/driverdata, to identify starting and stopping points and other characteristicsof driving trips, identify road segments, to determine various drivingdata such as speeds, driving routes and times, acceleration, braking,and turning data, and other driving conditions and behaviors. In someimplementations, the driving analysis software application 734 may storeand analyze the data from various mobile device components, and the roadsegment safety rating application 735 may use this data, alone or in anycombination with other components or devices (e.g., insurance server750), to determine and present road segment safety ratings, recommendedalternate road segments, insurance costs or incentives, and the like.

When mobile computing devices within vehicles are used to detect vehicledriving data and/or to receive vehicle driving data from vehiclesensors, such mobile computing devices 730 may store, analyze, and/ortransmit the vehicle driver data (e.g., data identifying a currentdriver), driving data (e.g., speed data, acceleration, braking, andturning data, and any other vehicle sensor or operational data), anddriving trip data (e.g., road segment, driving route, driving times,driving destinations, etc.), to one or more other devices. For example,mobile computing device 730 may transmit driver data, driving data anddriving behaviors, and driving trip data directly to one or moreinsurance servers 750, and thus may be used in conjunction with orinstead of telematics devices 713. Additionally, mobile computing device730 may be configured to perform the V2V and V2I communicationsdescribed above, by establishing connections and transmitting/receivingvehicle driving data to and from other nearby vehicles. Thus, mobilecomputing device 730 may be used in conjunction with, or instead of,short-range communication system 712 in some examples. In addition,mobile computing device 730 may be used in conjunction with the vehiclecontrol computers 717 for purposes of autonomous driving. Moreover, theprocessing components of the mobile computing device 730 may be used toidentify vehicle drivers and passengers, analyze vehicle driving data,analyze driving trips, and perform other related functions. Therefore,in certain embodiments, mobile computing device 730 may be used inconjunction with, or in place of, the insurance system server 750.

Vehicle 710 may include driving analysis computer 714, which may beseparate computing devices or may be integrated into one or more othercomponents within the vehicle 710, such as the telematics device 713,autonomous driving systems, or the internal computing systems of vehicle710. As discussed above, driving analysis computers 714 also may beimplemented by computing devices independent from the vehicle 710, suchas mobile computing device 730 of the drivers or passengers, or one ormore separate computer systems (e.g., a user's home or office computer).In any of these examples, the driving analysis computer 714 may containsome or all of the hardware/software components as the computing device1301 depicted in FIG. 13. Further, in certain implementations, thefunctionality of the driving analysis computers, such as storing andanalyzing driver data, vehicle data, driving data and driving behaviors,and determining, presenting, and implementing aspects of road segmentsafety rating, may be performed in a central insurance system server 750rather than by the individual vehicle 710 or personal mobile device 730.In such implementations, the vehicle 710 and and/or mobile device 730,might only collect and transmit driver data, vehicle data, driving data,and the like to an insurance server 750, and thus the vehicle-baseddriving analysis computer 714 may be optional.

The system 700 also may include one or more insurance system servers750, containing some or all of the hardware/software components as thecomputing device 1301 depicted in FIG. 13. The insurance system server750 may include hardware, software, and network components to receivedriver data, vehicle data, and vehicle operational data/driving datafrom one or more vehicles 710, mobile devices 730, and other datasources. The insurance system server 750 may include an insurancedatabase 752 and road segment safety rating system 751 to respectivelystore and analyze driver data, vehicle data, and driving data, etc.,received from vehicle 710, mobile device 730, and other data sources. Insome examples, the road segment safety rating system 751 may includemany or all of the components of road segment safety rating system 600described with respect to FIG. 6.

The insurance system server 750 may initiate communication with and/orretrieve driver data, vehicle data, and driving data from vehicle 710wirelessly via telematics device 713, mobile device 730, or by way ofseparate computing systems over one or more computer networks (e.g., theInternet). Additionally, the insurance system server 750 may receiveadditional data from other third-party data sources, such as externaltraffic databases containing traffic data (e.g., amounts of traffic,average driving speed, traffic speed distribution, and numbers and typesof accidents, etc.) at various times and locations, external weatherdatabases containing weather data (e.g., rain, snow, sleet, and hailamounts, temperatures, wind, road conditions, visibility, etc.) atvarious times and locations, and other external data sources containingdriving hazard data (e.g., road hazards, traffic accidents, downedtrees, power outages, road construction zones, school zones, and naturaldisasters, etc.), route and navigation information, and insurancecompany databases containing insurance data (e.g., driver score,coverage amount, deductible amount, premium amount, insured status) forthe vehicle, driver, and/or other nearby vehicles and drivers.

Data stored in the insurance database 752 may be organized in any ofseveral different manners. For example, a driver table in database 752may contain all of the driver data for drivers associated with theinsurance provider (e.g., driver personal information, insurance accountinformation, demographic information, accident histories, risk factors,driving scores and driving logs, etc.), a vehicle table may contain allof the vehicle data for vehicles associated with the insurance provider(e.g., vehicle identifiers, makes, models, years, accident histories,maintenance histories, travel logs, estimated repair costs and overallvalues, etc.), and a driving trip table may store all of the drivingtrip data for drivers and vehicles associated with the insuranceprovider (e.g., road segment identification, road segment safety rating,driving trip driver, vehicle driven, trip time, starting and endingpoints, route driven, etc.). Other tables in the database 752 may storeadditional data, including data types discussed above (e.g. trafficinformation, road-type and road condition information, weather data,insurance policy data, etc.). Additionally, one or more other databasesof other insurance providers containing additional driver data andvehicle data may be accessed to retrieve such additional data.

The road segment safety rating system 751 within the insurance systemserver 750 may be configured to retrieve data from the database 752, ormay receive driver data, vehicle data, and driving trip directly fromvehicle 710, mobile device 730, or other data sources, and may performdriving data analyses, determine or generate road segment safetyratings, and other related functions. The functions performed by theroad segment safety rating system 751 may be performed by specializedhardware and/or software separate from the additional functionality ofthe insurance system server 750. Such functions may be similar to thoseof driving analysis module 714 of vehicle 710, and the driving analysisand road segment safety rating applications 734 and 735 of mobile device730, and further descriptions and examples of the algorithms, functions,and analyses that may be executed by the road segment safety ratingsystem 751 are described below, including in reference to FIGS. 8-12B.

In various examples, the driving data and driving trip analyses and/orroad segment safety determinations may be performed entirely in theinsurance system server 750, may be performed entirely in thevehicle-based driving analysis computing module 714, or may be performedentirely in the driving analysis and road segment safety ratingapplications 734 and 735 of mobile device 730. In other examples,certain analyses of driver data, vehicle data, and driving trip data,and certain road segment safety rating determinations may be performedby vehicle-based devices (e.g., within driving analysis module 714) ormobile device 730 (e.g., within applications 734 and 735), while otherdata analyses and road segment safety rating determinations areperformed by the road segment safety rating system 751 at the insurancesystem server 750. For example, a vehicle-based driving analysiscomputer 714, or the hardware and software components of mobile device730 may continuously receive and analyze driver data, vehicle data,driving trip data, and the like to determine certain events andcharacteristics (e.g., commencement of a driving trip, identification ofa driver, determination of a driving route, road segment, or intendeddestination, driving data and behaviors during driving trips, etc.), sothat large amounts of data need not be transmitted to the insurancesystem server 750. However, for example, after driver, vehicle, and/ordriving trip is determined by a vehicle-based device and/or mobiledevice, corresponding information may be transmitted to the insuranceserver 750 to perform alternate road segment recommendationdeterminations, insurance offer and cost determinations, etc. which maybe transmitted back to the vehicle-based device and/or personal mobiledevices.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating one example method of determining aroad segment safety rating, according to one or more aspects describedherein. In step 800, historical data is received by the system. Asdiscussed above, the historical data may include data from multiplesources that are either (or both) internal to and external to the entityimplanting the system. The historical data may include traffic volumedata, accident data, severity of accidents, type of road on whichaccidents occurred, road type, and the like. The historical data mayfurther include information associated with various road conditions,features, etc. For example, historical data may include information suchas bends in a road or road segment, lane mergers or changes in a road orroad segment, cloverleaf interchanges, speed limit of the road or roadsegment, average speed in relation to speed limit, angle of the sun,time of day, condition of road (e.g., potholes, etc.), curvature of theroad, degree of bank on the road, whether pedestrians may be present onor near the road, neighborhood crime statistics, whether the road orroad segment is in a residential or commercial area, the season of theyear, whether one or more congestion causing events may occur, etc. Thisdata may be received from a variety of sources providing informationassociated with a plurality of roads and road segments and may be used,as discussed herein, to determine road segment safety ratings for aplurality of road segments. Various other types of data (e.g.,historical and real-time or near real-time may also be received and usedherein without departing from the invention.

In step 802, location information for a vehicle may be received. In someexamples, the location information may be received from a GPS device orsystem associated with the vehicle. Based on the received locationinformation, a current road segment of the vehicle may be determined instep 804.

In step 806, a road segment safety rating of the road segment identifiedor determined in step 804 may be generated. As discussed above, the roadsegment safety rating may be based on the data received (e.g., in step802) and may be indicative of a safety level of the road segment, asdetermined from historical driving data associated with that roadsegment. In step 808, the determined road segment safety rating may betransmitted to the user, e.g., via one or more computing device. Forinstance, the road segment safety rating may be transmitted to the uservia a mobile device of the user and/or an on-board vehicle computingdevice.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example method of determining a road segmentsafety rating according to one or more aspects described herein. In step900, historical information may be received. Similar to step 800, thehistorical information may be received from one or more sources and mayinclude various types of information associated with one or more roadsor road segments, traffic, and the like. In step 902, locationinformation may be received from a vehicle. Similar to step 802, thelocation information may be received from a GPS system associated withthe vehicle.

In step 904, a road segment on which the vehicle is travelling may beidentified based on the received location information. In step 906,driver-specific information may be received. As discussed above, thedriver-specific information may include driver behaviors determined fromdata collected from one or more sensors associated with a vehicle. Thedriving behaviors may be determined over a period of time (e.g., onemonth, one year, multiple years, etc.). In some examples, thedriver-specific information received may be raw sensor data receivedfrom one or more sensors associated with the vehicle. For instance, thedata may be real-time or near real-time driving data indicative ofweather conditions, road conditions, or the like.

In step 908, a safety rating for the identified road segment may bedetermined based on the received historical information and the receiveddriver-specific information. Accordingly, in such examples, the safetyrating determined in step 908 may be particular or unique to the driver,because it relies on driving behaviors of the driver to determine therating. Thus, any given road segment may have a different safety ratingfor various different drivers based on the driving behavior informationused to determine the road segment safety rating.

In step 910, a determination may be made as to whether the determinedroad segment safety rating is at or above a predetermined threshold. Ifso, a notification may be transmitted to the user or driver in step 912indicating the road segment safety rating. As discussed above, thenotification may be transmitted to one or more computing devices of theuser, such as a mobile device of the user, on-board vehicle computingdevice, or the like.

If, in step 910, it is determined that the road segment safety rating isbelow the predetermined threshold, one or more recommendations foralternate road segments may be generated in step 914. As discussedabove, the recommendations may be generated based on a comparisonbetween the road segment and other road segments in a similar geographiclocation. In some examples, for instance when a user has indicated adestination of the trip, the system may generate an alternate route tothe destination that includes road segments having safer ratings thanthe current road segment or current route. These determinations may beperformed by one or more computing devices within the system and mayprocess vast amounts of data associated with road segments, potentialroutes, road segment safety ratings, and the like, that would bedifficult or impossible to be determined by a person without the aid ofa computing device.

In some examples, the recommendations generated may be based, at leastin part, on driving behaviors of the user. For instance, behaviors suchas speed relative to the speed limit, speed relative to other drivers,braking distance, following distance, and the like, that have beendetermined, such as by a driving behaviors module based on receivedsensor data, may be used to identify road segments that would be suitedto the driving behaviors of the user and may have a safer rating.

In step 916, the one or more recommendations may be transmitted to theuser. Similar to the transmission of the road segment safety rating instep 912, the recommendations may be transmitted to a computing deviceof the user, such as a mobile device or on-board vehicle computingdevice of the user's vehicle.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are example user interfaces illustrating notificationsthat may be transmitted to the user based on the determined road segmentsafety rating. FIG. 10A includes user interface 1000 that may bepresented to a user upon determining that the road segment safety ratingis at or above the predetermined threshold. The interface 1000 may beprovided to the user via a computing device, such as a mobile device ofthe user and/or a display of an on-board vehicle computing device. Theinterface includes region 1002 in which the road segment safety ratingis provided to the user. The interface 1000 includes “OK” option 1004.Selection of option 1004 may cause the display to return to a previousscreen (e.g., a navigation screen, an audio selection screen, etc.).Additionally or alternatively, the interface 600 may be displayed for apredetermined time period and then the display may automatically revertback to the previous screen. For instance, the road segment safetyrating may be displayed for, for example, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, or thelike, and then the display may automatically revert back to the screendisplayed prior to displaying the road segment safety rating. In someexamples, an audible warning may also be provided to the user. Forinstance, a spoken alert or other audible warning may be provided eitherin addition to or in lieu of the displayed warning.

FIG. 10B illustrates example user interface 1050. Interface 1050 may bedisplayed upon determining that the road segment safety rating for thecurrent road segment is below the predetermined threshold. Interface1050 includes region 1052 in which the current road segment safetyrating is provided to the user. In addition, interface 1050 furtherincludes region 1054 in which one or more alternate routes or roads areprovided to the user. The user may select one of the options providedand the system may automatically generate navigation directions (orturn-by-turn directions) to transition to the selected route.

The interfaces shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B are merely some exampleinterfaces that may be used to provide road segment safety ratinginformation to a user. Various other interfaces, interface arrangements,and information may be provided to the user without departing from theinvention.

FIG. 11 is one example method of identifying insurance premiums orincentives based on the determined road segment safety ratings,according to one or more aspects described herein. In step 1100, a roadsegment safety rating may be determined. The road segment safety ratingmay be determined using one or more of the processes described hereinand, in particular, in connection with FIGS. 8 and 9.

In step 1102, the road segment safety rating may be analyzed along withone or more insurance policy parameters of an auto insurance policy ofthe user or vehicle. For instance, a history of high safety roadsegments travelled by the user or vehicle may result in an option for areduction in insurance premium, offer of a discount on a premium, or thelike. In another example, if the insurance policy is a pay as you drivetype of policy, the road segment safety rating may be used to determinea rate at which the credits within the insurance policy are reduced. Forinstance, as the vehicle travels a route, the safety rating of the roadsegments travelled may be determined, as discussed herein. Accordingly,the system may determine a rate at which to reduce the insurance creditsassociated with this trip based at least in part on the road segmentsafety ratings of one or more road segments travelled. That is,travelling along road segments having a safer rating may result in alower consumption rate of insurance credits (e.g., credits will lastlonger, thereby saving the user money associated with purchase of thepolicy, credits, etc.) than travelling along road segments having a lesssafe rating, as determined by the system. This may provide the user withan incentive to travel on roads or road segments having safer ratings.

In step 1104, one or more insurance incentives to offer to the user maybe generated. Insurance incentives may include a lower premium, adiscount on a premium, an amount of cash reward, or the like. In step1106, the insurance incentive may be transmitted to the user. Forinstance, the generated one or more incentives may be transmitted to acomputing device of a user and displayed therein.

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate example user interfaces that may beprovided to a user to identify one or more insurance incentivesaccording to one or more aspects described herein. FIG. 12A includesinterface 1200 a in which the user is notified that his or her safedriving (e.g., selection of road segments having a good safety rating)has earned him or her an insurance discount. Similar to various othernotifications described herein, the notification may be transmitted to acomputing device of the user, such as a mobile device, on-board vehiclecomputing device display, or the like. The notification may also be inaudible notification projected from the computing device. Upon receivingthe notification, the user may elect to move forward with processing theinsurance incentive by selecting “OK” option, or may request that thesystem send a reminder notification at a later time. In some examples,upon selection of “Remind me later” option, the system may automaticallytransmit a reminder notification at preset times or intervals (e.g., 1hour later, 24 hours later, 3 days later, etc.).

Selection of “OK” option from interface 1200 a may prompt interface 1200b, or similar, as shown in FIG. 12B. Interface 1200 b identifies theinsurance incentive being offered to the user (e.g., a 10% discount inthis example). Various other incentives or types of incentives may beprovided to the user without departing from the invention. For instance,discounts may be offered to avoid driving on particular road segments(e.g., road segments having a less safe rating).

If the user wishes to accept the offered incentive, he or she may select“ACCEPT” option. Alternatively, if the user does not wish to accept theoffered incentive, he or she may select “NO, THANKS” option. Selectionof “NO, THANKS” option may cause the incentive to be stored in thesystem for a pre-determined period of time (e.g., one week, one month,etc.) so that the user may return to the system and accept theincentive. However, in some arrangements, selection of “NO, THANKS”option may indicate that the user is not interested and, thus, noreminder notifications will be sent.

The systems, methods, and the like, described herein providearrangements for determine a safety rating of a road segment that may beused to improve safe driving of a user, provide insurance incentives tothe user, and the like. The use of road segments, rather than a “road”in general, may provide for additional granularity in the analysis. Forinstance, use of road segments may allow for the system to account forchanges in the number of lanes, particular sections of a road that arein disrepair, sections of a road having more curves than other portions,changes in the municipality overseeing the road, and the like.Accordingly, a more accurate safety rating for road segments, roads, andentire routes may be provided to the user.

Further, the road segment safety rating system may be used to providecoaching aspects to one or more drivers. For instance, by makingrecommendations of safer road segments or routes, the system may aiddrivers in identifying safe routes, etc. This aspect may be useful forvarious drivers and, for example, new drivers (e.g., teenagers).

Further, determination of suggested routes based on road segment safetyratings may be useful to non-insurance entities (in addition toinsurance entities, such as entities that provide applications directedto navigation, identifying desirable neighborhoods, identifying roads inneed of construction, designing new roadways, etc.

The arrangements described herein may also have commercial applicabilityin that trucks or vehicles of a certain size or weight may be preventedfrom travelling on certain road segments or routes. Accordingly,shipping costs may be varied based on the safety rating of one or moreroad segments travelled by the vehicle.

As discussed herein, the systems, arrangements, processed, etc.discussed herein may be used in various computing environments and/orwith various computing devices. FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of acomputing device (or system) 1301 in a computer system 1300 that may beused according to one or more illustrative embodiments of thedisclosure. The device 1301 may have a processor 1303 for controllingoverall operation of the device 1301 and its associated components,including RAM 1305, ROM 1307, input/output module 1309, and memory 1315.The computing device 1301, along with one or more additional devices(e.g., terminals 1341, 1351, and 1361, security and integration hardware1360) may correspond to any of multiple systems or devices describedherein, such as personal mobile devices, vehicle-based computingdevices, insurance systems servers, external data sources and othervarious devices in a risk unit based insurance system. These variouscomputing systems may be configured individually or in combination, asdescribed herein, for determining and/or providing road segment safetyratings (e.g., based on historical accident and/or traffic information,driver specific behavior data, etc.), determining insurance ratesassociated with a particular road segment, generating recommendationsfor road segments with safer ratings, and the like, using the devices ofthe road segment safety rating systems described herein. In addition tothe features described above, the techniques described herein also maybe used for generating and presenting insurance recommendations tocustomers, insurance underwriting, and other insurance-related tasks.

Input/Output (I/O) 1309 may include a microphone, keypad, touch screen,and/or stylus through which a user of the computing device 1301 mayprovide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio output and a video display device for providing textual,audiovisual and/or graphical output. Software may be stored withinmemory 1315 and/or storage to provide instructions to processor 1303 forenabling device 1301 to perform various actions. For example, memory1315 may store software used by the device 1301, such as an operatingsystem 1317, application programs 1319, and an associated internaldatabase 1321. The various hardware memory units in memory 1315 mayinclude volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage of information suchas computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. Certain devices and systems within the road segment safetyrating systems may have minimum hardware requirements in order tosupport sufficient storage capacity, processing capacity, analysiscapacity, network communication, etc. For instance, in some embodiments,one or more nonvolatile hardware memory units having a minimum size(e.g., at least 1 gigabyte (GB), 2 GB, 5 GB, etc.), and/or one or morevolatile hardware memory units having a minimum size (e.g., 256megabytes (MB), 512 MB, 1 GB, etc.) may be used in a device 1301 (e.g.,a personal mobile device 1301, vehicle-based device 1301, insurancesystem server 1301, etc.), in order to collect and analyze driver data,vehicle data, traffic data, and/or accident data, determine a safetyrating for a road segment, determine an insurance rate or costassociated with the road segment, etc., using the various devices of theroad segment safety rating systems. Memory 1315 also may include one ormore physical persistent memory devices and/or one or morenon-persistent memory devices. Memory 1315 may include, but is notlimited to, random access memory (RAM) 1305, read only memory (ROM)1307, electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM),flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks(DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othermedium that can be used to store the desired information and that can beaccessed by processor 1303.

Processor 1303 may include a single central processing unit (CPU), whichmay be a single-core or multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core,quad-core, etc.), or may include multiple CPUs. Processor(s) 1303 mayhave various bit sizes (e.g., 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, 96-bit, 128-bit,etc.) and various processor speeds (ranging from 100 MHz to 5 Ghz orfaster). Processor(s) 1303 and its associated components may allow thesystem 1301 to execute a series of computer-readable instructions, forexample, to receive and analyze driver data, vehicle data, traffic dataand/or accident data, determine a safety rating for a road segment,generate recommendations for alternate road segments having a saferrating, and the like.

The computing device (e.g., a personal mobile device, vehicle-basedsystem, insurance system server, etc.) may operate in a networkedenvironment 1300 supporting connections to one or more remote computers,such as terminals 1341, 1351, and 1361. Such terminals may be personalcomputers or servers 1341 (e.g., home computers, laptops, web servers,database servers), mobile communication devices 1351 (e.g., mobilephones, tablet computers, etc.), vehicle-based computing systems 1361(e.g., on-board vehicle systems, telematics devices, mobile phones orother personal mobile devices within vehicles), and the like, each ofwhich may include some or all of the elements described above withrespect to the computing device 1301. The network connections depictedin FIG. 13 include a local area network (LAN) 1325 and a wide areanetwork (WAN) 1329, and a wireless telecommunications network 1333, butmay also include other networks. When used in a LAN networkingenvironment, the computing device 1301 may be connected to the LAN 1325through a network interface or adapter 1323. When used in a WANnetworking environment, the device 1301 may include a modem 1327 orother means for establishing communications over the WAN 1329, such asnetwork 1331 (e.g., the Internet). When used in a wirelesstelecommunications network 1333, the device 1301 may include one or moretransceivers, digital signal processors, and additional circuitry andsoftware for communicating with wireless computing devices 1351 and 1361(e.g., mobile phones, portable customer computing devices, vehicle-basedcomputing devices and systems, etc.) via one or more network devices1335 (e.g., base transceiver stations) in the wireless network 1333.

Also illustrated in FIG. 13 is a security and integration layer 1360,through which communications are sent and managed between the device1301 (e.g., a personal mobile device, a vehicle-based computing device,an insurance server, an intermediary server and/or external data sourceservers, etc.) and the remote devices (1341, 1351, and 1361) and remotenetworks (1325, 1329, and 1333). The security and integration layer 1360may comprise one or more separate computing devices, such as webservers, authentication servers, and/or various networking components(e.g., firewalls, routers, gateways, load balancers, etc.), having someor all of the elements described above with respect to the computingdevice 1301. As an example, a security and integration layer 1360 of aserver 1301 may comprise a set of web application servers configured touse secure protocols and to insulate the device 1301 from externaldevices 1341, 1351, and 1361. In some cases, the security andintegration layer 1360 may correspond to a set of dedicated hardwareand/or software operating at the same physical location and under thecontrol of same entities as device 1301. For example, layer 1360 maycorrespond to one or more dedicated web servers and network hardware ina vehicle and driver information datacenter or in a cloud infrastructuresupporting a cloud-based vehicle identification and vehicle and driverdata retrieval and analysis. In other examples, the security andintegration layer 1360 may correspond to separate hardware and softwarecomponents which may be operated at a separate physical location and/orby a separate entity.

As discussed herein, the data transferred to and from various devices ina road segment safety rating system 1300 may include secure andsensitive data, such as confidential vehicle operation data, insurancepolicy data, and confidential user data from drivers and passengers invehicles. Therefore, it may be desirable to protect transmissions ofsuch data by using secure network protocols and encryption, and also toprotect the integrity of the data when stored on the various deviceswithin a road segment safety rating system, such as personal mobiledevices, vehicle-based devices, insurance servers, external data sourceservers, or other computing devices in the system 1300, by using thesecurity and integration layer 1360 to authenticate users and restrictaccess to unknown or unauthorized users. In various implementations,security and integration layer 1360 may provide, for example, afile-based integration scheme or a service-based integration scheme fortransmitting data between the various devices in an electronic displaysystem 1300. Data may be transmitted through the security andintegration layer 1360, using various network communication protocols.Secure data transmission protocols and/or encryption may be used in filetransfers to protect the integrity of the data, for example, FileTransfer Protocol (FTP), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and/orPretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption. In other examples, one or more webservices may be implemented within the various devices 1301 in thesystem 1300 and/or the security and integration layer 1360. The webservices may be accessed by authorized external devices and users tosupport input, extraction, and manipulation of the data (e.g., vehicledata, driver data, driving trip data, etc.) between the various devices1301 in the system 1300. Web services built to support a personalizeddisplay system may be cross-domain and/or cross-platform, and may bebuilt for enterprise use. Such web services may be developed inaccordance with various web service standards, such as the Web ServiceInteroperability (WS-I) guidelines. In some examples, a driver data,vehicle data, traffic data, and/or accident data analysis web service,road segment safety analysis web service, insurance rate analysis webservice, etc. may be implemented in the security and integration layer1360 using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security(TLS) protocol to provide secure connections between servers 101 andvarious clients 1341, 1351, and 1361. SSL or TLS may use HTTP or HTTPSto provide authentication and confidentiality. In other examples, suchweb services may be implemented using the WS-Security standard, whichprovides for secure SOAP messages using XML, encryption. In still otherexamples, the security and integration layer 1360 may includespecialized hardware for providing secure web services. For example,secure network appliances in the security and integration layer 1360 mayinclude built-in features such as hardware-accelerated SSL and HTTPS,WS-Security, and firewalls. Such specialized hardware may be installedand configured in the security and integration layer 1360 in front ofthe web servers, so that any external devices may communicate directlywith the specialized hardware.

Although not shown in FIG. 13, various elements within memory 1315 orother components in system 1300, may include one or more caches, forexample, CPU caches used by the processing unit 1303, page caches usedby the operating system 1317, disk caches of a hard drive, and/ordatabase caches used to cache content from database 1321. Forembodiments including a CPU cache, the CPU cache may be used by one ormore processors in the processing unit 1303 to reduce memory latency andaccess time. In such examples, a processor 1303 may retrieve data fromor write data to the CPU cache rather than reading/writing to memory1315, which may improve the speed of these operations. In some examples,a database cache may be created in which certain data from a database1321 (e.g., a database of driver data, driving behaviors orcharacteristics, passenger-related data, vehicle data, traffic data,accident data, etc.) is cached in a separate smaller database on anapplication server separate from the database server (e.g., at apersonal mobile device, vehicle-based data, or intermediary networkdevice or cache device, etc.). For instance, in a multi-tieredapplication, a database cache on an application server can reduce dataretrieval and data manipulation time by not needing to communicate overa network with a back-end database server. These types of caches andothers may be included in various embodiments, and may provide potentialadvantages in certain implementations of risk unit based insurancesystems, such as faster response times and less dependence on networkconditions when transmitting and receiving driver information, vehicleinformation, traffic information, accident information, road segmentsafety rating information, and the like.

It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areillustrative and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used. The existence of any of variousnetwork protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, andof various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi,and WiMAX, is presumed, and the various computing devices in risk unitbased insurance system components described herein may be configured tocommunicate using any of these network protocols or technologies.

Additionally, one or more application programs 1319 may be used by thevarious computing devices 1301 within a road segment safety ratingsystem 1300 (e.g., vehicle data, driver data, traffic data, and/oraccident data, analysis software applications, location determiningsoftware applications, etc.), including computer executable instructionsfor receiving and analyzing various driver data, vehicle data, trafficdata and/or accident data, determining location of a vehicle, determinea safety rating for a road segment, and/or generating recommendationsfor alternate road segments having higher safety ratings using thedevices of the road segment safety rating systems.

As discussed herein, determined road segment safety ratings may bedetermined and stored (e.g., in an on-board vehicle system, in a remotesystem, etc.). In some examples, at the completion of each trip, adetermined road segment safety rating may be transmitted to an insuranceprovider and may be stored at an insurance provider system.

Further, although various examples discussed herein are directed todetermining a road segment safety rating based on environmental orexternal factors, driver behavior, and the like, the data collected mayfurther be used to identify hazards or risks along a route or projectedroute of a user. For instance, data associated with an accident that hasrecently occurred may be coupled with the driver's characteristicdriving data to provide a warning to the user of the upcoming accident.That is, if the driver has a history of driving faster than the speedlimit, or data indicated the driver is currently driving faster than thespeed limit, and the accident identified is a short distance ahead, awarning or alert (e.g., displayed or audible) may be provided to theuser indicating that an accident is ahead and the user should reducespeed. Various other arrangements in which external data is combinedwith driving behaviors to identify risk and alert drivers may be usedwithout departing from the invention.

Although various implementations of the systems, methods, etc. describedherein are provided above, below is one example of how the road segmentsafety rating system may be used. The example below is not intended tolimit the arrangements discussed herein to only this implementation.Rather, the arrangements described herein may be implemented in variousother ways without departing from the invention.

In one example, a driver may be provided with a plurality of routes to aparticular destination upon identifying a destination (either by driverinput or as predicted by the system). The plurality of routes providedmay each have a different overall road safety rating (e.g., based onsafety ratings of road segments comprising each route). The driver maythen proceed to the identified destination via one of the plurality ofroutes, a combination of the identified routes, or via another route.Upon completion of the trip, an overall road segment safety rating forthe route taken may be determined. This safety rating may then betransmitted to an insurance provider system for storage and use (asdiscussed herein).

In some examples, the overall safety rating of trips taken in apredetermined period of time (e.g., one month, three months, six months,etc.) may be evaluated (by the insurance provider system) and a discountor other incentive to provide to the driver may be generated based onthis evaluation. The discount or incentive may then be applied to a nextpolicy period.

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative road segment safety rating system 1400according to one or more aspects described herein. The illustrative roadsegment safety rating system 1400 may include one or more of a network1405, a vehicle 1410, a personal mobile device 1430, a road segmentsafety rating server 1450, a reward database 1460, and an insurancedatabase 1470. In some cases, the vehicle 1410 may include a vehiclecomputing system that may include one or more of a navigation system1412, a vehicle operation analysis system 1414, a road segment safetyrating system 1416, a user interface 1418, and one or more memorydevices 1420. The user interface 1418 may include one or moreinput/output devices 1413 and/or may be configured to display one ormore user interface screens 1414 on a display device (not shown). Thepersonal mobile device 1430 may include one or more components, such asthe navigation system 1432, the road segment rating system 1436, theuser interface 1438 and/or one or more memory devices 1440. In somecases, the one or more memory devices 1420 of the vehicle 1410 and/orthe one or more memory devices 1440 may be used to store computerexecutable instructions that, when executed, cause the road segmentsafety rating system 1416, 1436 to receive, via the user interfacedevice, a first location corresponding to a location along a route to betraveled by a vehicle, determine, based on the first location and asecond location that corresponds to a location of the vehicle, aplurality of road segments between the first location and the secondlocation wherein the plurality of road segments comprise differentroutes between the first location and the second location, determine,based at least in part on historical data, a safety rating for each ofthe plurality of road segments; and provide, via the user interfacedevice, an indication of a safest road segment of the plurality of roadsegments to an operator of the vehicle, wherein the safest road segmentis determined using the safety rating determined for each of theplurality of road segments. In some cases, the one or more memorydevices 1420, and/or 1440 may further store one or more bookmarkedroutes and/or road segments 1424, 1444, an indication of one or moreearned rewards 1426, 1446, and/or may store information 1428, 1448corresponding to the operation of a vehicle and/or informationcorresponding to one or more drivers of the vehicle 1410. In some cases,the user interface 1418 of the vehicle computing system and/or the userinterface 1438 of the personal mobile device may include one or moreinput/output devices 1413, 1433. These input/output devices may includeone or more devices to allow a user to input information into the system(e.g., a keyboard, a touchscreen, a microphone, a button, a switch, amouse, a trackball, etc.) and one or more devices 1414, 1434 to presentinformation to a user, such as a display device to present visualinformation (e.g., an LCD display, an LED display, a touchscreendisplay, an LED, a lamp, etc.) and/or one or more devices for presentingaudio information, such as a speaker.

As discussed below, the components of the illustrative road segmentsafety rating system 1400, individually or using communication andcollaborative interaction, may determine, present, and implement varioustypes of road segment safety ratings to customers, including generatinga plurality of road segment safety rating based on road segment dataand/or user driving behavior data, determining a safest road segmentfrom the plurality of road segments between a specified start positionand a specified end position, communicating at least the identifiedsafest road segment to a user, and providing an indication about whetheran award has been earned if the user has traveled the specified safestroute, and the like. To perform such features, the components shown inFIG. 14 each may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combinationof the two. Additionally, each component of the system 700 may include acomputing device (or system) having some or all of the structuralcomponents described herein for computing device 102 in FIG. 1, thesystem 700 of FIG. 7, and/or computing device 1301 in FIG. 13.

Vehicle 1410 in the system 1400 may be, for example, an automobile, amotorcycle, a scooter, a bus, a recreational vehicle, a boat, or othervehicle for which vehicle data, location data, driver data (or operatordata), operational data and/or other driving data (e.g., location data,time data, weather data, etc.) may be collected and analyzed. Thevehicle 1410 may include one or more vehicle operation sensors, such asthe vehicle operation sensor 711 of FIG. 7, which are at least similarto one or more of sensors 610 a-610 c of FIG. 6, and capable ofdetecting and recording various conditions at the vehicle andoperational parameters of the vehicle. For example, as discussed above,the sensor 711 may detect and store data corresponding to the vehicle'slocation that may be received from the navigation system 1412 and/or1432 (e.g., GPS coordinates), time, travel time, speed and direction,rates of acceleration or braking, gas mileage, and specific instances ofsudden acceleration, braking, swerving, and distance traveled. Thevehicle operation sensor 711 also may detect and store data receivedfrom the vehicle's 1410 internal systems, such as impact to the body ofthe vehicle, air bag deployment, headlights usage, brake lightoperation, door opening and closing, door locking and unlocking, cruisecontrol usage, hazard lights usage, windshield wiper usage, horn usage,turn signal usage, seat belt usage, phone and radio usage within thevehicle, autonomous driving system usage, maintenance performed on thevehicle, and other data collected by the vehicle's computer systems,including the vehicle on-board diagnostic systems (OBD).

Further, the vehicle 1410 may include one or more additional sensors(e.g., sensors 711) that may detect and store the external drivingconditions, for example, external temperature, rain, snow, light levels,and sun position for driver visibility. For example, external camerasand proximity sensors 711 may detect other nearby vehicles, vehiclespacing, traffic levels, road conditions, traffic obstructions, animals,cyclists, pedestrians, and other conditions that may factor into adriving data/behavior analysis. The sensor 711 also may detect and storedata relating to moving violations and the observance of traffic signalsand signs by the vehicle 1410. Additional sensors 711 may detect andstore data relating to the maintenance of the vehicle 1410, such as theengine status, oil level, engine coolant temperature, odometer reading,the level of fuel in the fuel tank, engine revolutions per minute(RPMs), software upgrades, and/or tire pressure.

The additional vehicle sensors 711 also may include cameras and/orproximity sensors capable of recording additional conditions inside oroutside of the vehicle 1410. For example, internal cameras may detectconditions such as the number of the passengers and the types ofpassengers (e.g. adults, children, teenagers, pets, etc.) in thevehicles, and potential sources of driver distraction within the vehicle(e.g., pets, phone usage, and unsecured objects in the vehicle). Theadditional vehicle sensor 711 also may be configured to collect dataidentifying a current driver from among a number of different possibledrivers, for example, based on driver's seat and mirror positioning,driving times and routes, radio usage, etc. Voice/sound data along withdirectional data also may be used to determine a seating position withina vehicle 1410. The additional sensor 711 also may be configured tocollect data relating to a driver's movements or the condition of adriver. For example, vehicle 1410 may include sensors that monitor adriver's movements, such as the driver's eye position and/or headposition, etc. The additional sensors 711 may collect data regarding thephysical or mental state of the driver, such as fatigue or intoxication.The condition of the driver may be determined through the movements ofthe driver or through other sensors, for example, sensors that detectthe content of alcohol in the air or blood alcohol content of thedriver, such as a breathalyzer, along with other biometric sensors.

Certain ones of the additional vehicle sensors 711 also may collectinformation regarding the driver's route choice, whether the driverfollows a given route, and to classify the type of trip (e.g. commute,errand, new route, etc.) and type of driving (e.g., continuous driving,parking, stop-and-go traffic, etc.). In certain embodiments, additionalvehicle sensors 711 may include one or more sensors and/or cameras 711that may be used to determine when and how often the vehicle 1410 staysin a single lane or strays into other lane. The navigation system 1412(Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or a telecommunications networkbased navigation system) may locational sensors positioned inside thevehicle 1410, and/or locational sensors or devices external to thevehicle 1410 may be used to determine the route, speed, lane position,road-type (e.g. highway, entrance/exit ramp, residential area, etc.) andother vehicle position/location data.

The data collected by the additional vehicle sensor 711 may be storedand/or analyzed within the vehicle 1410, such as for example a vehicleoperation analysis system 1414 integrated into the vehicle, and/or maybe transmitted to one or more external devices. For example, sensor datamay be transmitted via short-range communication systems or othercommunication networks (e.g., the Internet, a WAN or a cellular network)to other nearby vehicles. Additionally, the sensor data may betransmitted via a telematics device (e.g., the telematics device 713) toone or more remote computing devices, such as the personal mobile device1430, the road segment safety rating server 1450, and/or other remotedevices

The vehicle 1410 may include a short-range communication system, such asthe communication system 712 or similar such communication systems maybe a vehicle-based data transmission system configured to transmitvehicle operational data to other nearby vehicles or infrastructure, andto receive vehicle operational data from other nearby vehicles. In someexamples, the communication system 712 may use the dedicated short-rangecommunications (DSRC) protocols and standards to perform wirelesscommunications between vehicles. In the United States, 75 MHz in the5.850-5.925 GHz band have been allocated for DSRC systems andapplications, and various other DSRC allocations have been defined inother countries and jurisdictions. However, the short-rangecommunication system 712 need not use DSRC, and may be implemented usingother short-range wireless protocols, as discussed above in reference toFIG. 7. In other examples, such as WLAN communication protocols (e.g.,IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth (e.g., IEEE 802.15.1), or one or more of theCommunication Access for Land Mobiles (CALM) wireless communicationprotocols and air interfaces. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)transmissions, and/or between short-range communication system 712 andother systems may be sent via DSRC, Bluetooth, satellite, GSM infrared,IEEE 802.11, WiMAX, RFID, and/or any suitable wireless communicationmedia, standards, and protocols. In some cases, these systems may beincluded, at least in part, in a vehicle standing next to his farmer. Incertain systems, short-range communication system may includespecialized hardware installed in vehicles 1410 (e.g., transceivers,antennas, etc.), while in other examples the communication system 712may be implemented using existing vehicle hardware components (e.g.,radio and satellite equipment, navigation computers) or may beimplemented by software running on the mobile device 1430 of a driverand/or passengers within the vehicle 1410.

Similarly to FIG. 7, the data collected by the vehicle sensor 711 may betransmitted to the road segment safety rating server 1450, the personalmobile device 1430, and/or one or more additional external servers anddevices via a telematics device (e.g., the telematics device 713). Asdiscussed above, the telematics device 713 may receive vehicle operationdata and driving data from the vehicle sensor 711, and may transmit thedata to one or more external computer systems (e.g., the road segmentsafety rating server 1450 and/or the insurance system server 750 of aninsurance company, financial institution, or other entity) over awireless transmission network. The telematics device 713 also may beconfigured to detect or determine additional types of data relating toreal-time driving and the condition of the vehicle 710. The telematicsdevice 713 also may store the type of vehicle 1410, for example, themake, model, trim (or sub-model), year, and/or engine specifications,autonomous driving system specifications, as well as other informationsuch as vehicle owner or driver information, insurance information, andfinancing information for the vehicle 1410. In some cases, one or morevehicle sensors (e.g., vehicle sensors 711, etc.) or systems may beconfigured to receive and transmit data directly from or to an roadsegment safety rating server 1450 without using a telematics device. Forinstance, telematics device 713 may be configured to receive andtransmit data from certain vehicle sensors 711 or systems, while othersensors or systems may be configured to directly receive and/or transmitdata to a road segment safety rating server 1450 without using thetelematics device 713. Thus, telematics device 713 may be optional incertain embodiments, as shown in FIG. 14.

In some cases, the system 1400 may include a personal mobile device1430. The personal mobile device 1430 may be similar to and/or includeone or more components similar to those discussed in reference topersonal mobile device 730 of FIG. 7. The personal mobile device 1430may be, for example, a smartphone or other mobile phone, personaldigital assistant (PDA), tablet computer, laptop computer and/or thelike, and may include some or all of the elements described herein withrespect to the computing device 1301 in FIG. 13. In some cases, thecomputing system of the vehicle 1410 and the personal mobile device 1430may share functionality (e.g., the road segment safety rating system1416 and 1436). As shown in this example, some mobile devices in system1400 (e.g., personal mobile device 730, personal mobile device 1430,etc.) may be configured to establish communication sessions withvehicle-based devices and various internal components of vehicle 1410,710 via wireless networks or wired connections (e.g., for dockeddevices), whereby such mobile devices 1430, 730 may have secure accessto internal vehicle sensors 711 and other vehicle-based systems.However, in other examples, the mobile device 1430, 730 might notconnect to vehicle-based computing devices and internal components, butmay operate independently by communicating with vehicle 1410 via theirstandard communication interfaces, or might not connect at all tovehicle 1410.

In some cases, the personal mobile device 1430 may include one or morespecialized software applications, such as a driving analysisapplication 734 of FIG. 7 and/or a road segment safety rating system1436 may be stored in the memory 1438 of the personal mobile device1430. The driving analysis application 734 and the road segment safetyrating system 1436 may be received via a network interface from a remoteserver (e.g., the insurance server 750), vehicle 710 and/or 1410, orother application providers (e.g., application stores). As discussedbelow, the driving analysis application 734 and road segment safetyrating application 735 may or may not include various user interfacescreens, and may be configured to run as user-initiated applications oras background applications. The memory 1440 of the mobile device 730also may include databases configured to receive and store vehicle data,driving data, driving trip data, and the like, associated with one ormore drivers and/or vehicles.

Like the vehicle-based computing devices in vehicle 1410, the personalmobile device 1430 also may include various components configured togenerate and/or receive vehicle data, driver data, and driving data orother operational data. For example, using data from the navigationsystem 1432, a driving analysis software application may be able toidentify starting and stopping points of driving trips, determinedriving speeds, times, routes, road segments, and the like.Additionally, components of mobile device 1430 may be used to generateor receive driving data for the driving data analysis application and/orroad segment safety rating system 1436, such as an accelerometer,compass, and various cameras and proximity sensors. As discussed below,these and other mobile device components may be used to receive, store,and output various user/driver data, to identify starting and stoppingpoints and other characteristics of driving trips, identify roadsegments, to determine various driving data such as speeds, drivingroutes and times, acceleration, braking, and turning data, and otherdriving conditions and behaviors. In some implementations, the drivinganalysis software application 734 may store and analyze the data fromvarious mobile device components, and the road segment safety ratingapplication may use this data, alone or in any combination with othercomponents or devices (e.g., insurance server 750, the road segmentsafety rating server 1436), to determine and present road segment safetyratings, recommended alternate road segments, insurance costs orincentives, and the like.

In some cases, when mobile computing devices within vehicles are used todetect vehicle driving data and/or to receive vehicle driving data fromvehicle sensors, such personal mobile devices 730 may store, analyze,and/or transmit the vehicle driver data (e.g., data identifying acurrent driver), driving data (e.g., speed data, acceleration, braking,and turning data, and any other vehicle sensor or operational data), anddriving trip data (e.g., road segment, driving route, driving times,driving destinations, etc.), to one or more other devices. For example,mobile computing device 730 may transmit driver data, driving data anddriving behaviors, and driving trip data directly to one or moreinsurance servers 750 and/or road segment safety rating servers 1450,and thus may be used in conjunction with or instead of telematicsdevices. Additionally, mobile computing device 730 may be configured toperform the V2V and V2I communications described above, by establishingconnections and transmitting/receiving vehicle driving data to and fromother nearby vehicles. Thus, the personal mobile computing device 1430may be used in conjunction with, or instead of, short-rangecommunication system 712 in some examples. In addition, mobile computingdevice 730 may be used in conjunction with the vehicle control computers717 for purposes of autonomous driving. Moreover, the processingcomponents of the personal mobile computing device 1430 may be used toidentify vehicle drivers and passengers, analyze vehicle driving data,analyze driving trips, and perform other related functions. Therefore,in certain embodiments, mobile computing device 730 may be used inconjunction with, or in place of, the insurance system server 750. Insuch implementations, the vehicle 1410 and and/or the personal mobiledevice 1430, might only collect and transmit driver data, vehicle data,driving data, and the like to an insurance server 750 and/or the roadsegment safety rating server 1450. Thus the vehicle-based drivinganalysis computer 714 may be optional.

The system 700 also may include one or more insurance system servers750, a road segment safety rating system 1452, containing some or all ofthe hardware/software components as the computing device 1301 depictedin FIG. 13. The road segment safety rating system 1400. In some cases,the road segment safety rating server 1450 may include hardware,software, and network components to receive driver data, vehicle data,and vehicle operational data/driving data from one or more vehicles 1410and/or 710, personal mobile devices 730, 1430, and other data sources.The road segment safety rating server 1450 and may include an insurancedatabase 752 (e.g., to election of a remote file) and road segmentsafety rating system 751 to respectively store and analyze driver data,vehicle data, and driving data, etc., received from vehicle 710, mobiledevice 730, and other data sources. In some examples, the road segmentsafety rating system 751 may include many or all of the components ofroad segment safety rating system 600 described with respect to FIG. 6.

The insurance system server 750 and/or the road segment rating system1436. may initiate communication with and/or retrieve driver data,vehicle data, and driving data from the vehicle 1410 wirelessly via atelematics device 713. Mobile device 730, or by way of separatecomputing systems over one or more computer networks (e.g., theInternet). Additionally, the insurance system server 750 and/or the roadsegment safety rating server 1450 may receive additional data from otherthird-party data sources, such as external traffic databases containingtraffic data (e.g., amounts of traffic, average driving speed, trafficspeed distribution, and numbers and types of accidents, etc.) at varioustimes and locations, external weather databases containing weather data(e.g., rain, snow, sleet, and hail amounts, temperatures, wind, roadconditions, visibility, etc.) at various times and locations, and otherexternal data sources containing driving hazard data (e.g., roadhazards, traffic accidents, downed trees, power outages, roadconstruction zones, school zones, and natural disasters, etc.), routeand navigation information, and insurance company databases containinginsurance data (e.g., driver score, coverage amount, deductible amount,premium amount, insured status) for the vehicle, driver, and/or othernearby vehicles and drivers.

Data stored in the insurance database 752, 1470 may be organized in anyof several different manners. For example, a driver table in database752, 1470 may contain all of the driver data for drivers associated withthe insurance provider (e.g., driver personal information, insuranceaccount information, demographic information, accident histories, riskfactors, driving scores and driving logs, etc.), a vehicle table maycontain all of the vehicle data for vehicles associated with theinsurance provider (e.g., vehicle identifiers, makes, models, years,accident histories, maintenance histories, travel logs, estimated repaircosts and overall values, etc.), and a driving trip table may store allof the driving trip data for drivers and vehicles associated with theinsurance provider (e.g., road segment identification, road segmentsafety rating, driving trip driver, vehicle driven, trip time, startingand ending points, route driven, etc.). Other tables in the insurancedatabase 752 may store additional data, including data types discussedabove (e.g. traffic information, road-type and road conditioninformation, weather data, insurance policy data, etc.). Additionally,one or more other databases of other insurance providers containingadditional driver data and vehicle data may be accessed to retrieve suchadditional data.

The road segment safety rating system 751 within the insurance systemserver 750 may be configured to retrieve data from the database 752, ormay receive driver data, vehicle data, and driving trip directly fromthe vehicle 710 and/or 1410, the personal mobile device 730, 1430, orother data sources, and may perform driving data analyses, determine orgenerate road segment safety ratings, and other related functions. Thefunctions performed by the road segment safety rating system 751 may beperformed by specialized hardware and/or software separate from theadditional functionality of the insurance system server 1450. Suchfunctions may be similar to those of the driving analysis module 714 ofthe vehicle 710 and/or the vehicle 1450, and the driving analysis androad segment safety rating applications 734 and 735 of mobile device730, and further descriptions and examples of the algorithms, functions,and analyses that may be executed by the road segment safety ratingsystem 1461, the network 1405, including in reference to FIGS. 16-27.

In various examples, the driving data and driving trip analyses and/orroad segment safety determinations may be performed entirely in the roadsegment safety rating server 1450, may be performed entirely in thevehicle-based road segment safety rating system 1416, or may beperformed entirely in the road segment safety rating system 1436 of thepersonal mobile device 1430. For example, a vehicle-based drivinganalysis computer, or the hardware and software components of thepersonal mobile device 1430 may continuously receive and analyze driverdata, vehicle data, driving trip data, and the like to determine certainevents and characteristics (e.g., commencement of a driving trip,identification of a driver, determination of a driving route, roadsegment, or intended destination, driving data and behaviors duringdriving trips, etc.), so that large amounts of data need not betransmitted to the road segment safety rating server 1450. However, forexample, after driver, vehicle, and/or driving trip is determined by avehicle-based device and/or mobile device, corresponding information maybe transmitted to the insurance server 750 to perform alternate roadsegment recommendation determinations, insurance offer and costdeterminations, etc. which may be transmitted back to the vehicle-baseddevice and/or personal mobile devices.

In some cases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may individually or collectively be used to generate safety ratingsfor a plurality of road segments and/or routes between a start locationand an end location. In some cases, the road segment safety ratingsystem 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may determine a plurality of routes (e.g.,one or more road segments) between a specified start location and an endlocation. The start location and/or end location may be identified inresponse to receiving a position of a vehicle from a locationdetermining device, such as the navigation system 1412 or 1432. In somecases, one or both of the start location and end location may bereceived from a user via a user interface device. In some cases, theuser may specifically enter a start location and/or an end locationusing a keyboard to enter a name of a location and/or by selecting alocation on a visual display of a map. In other cases, a user may speakthe name of a location into a microphone to provide an audio-basedinput. In some cases a new location may be entered. In other cases, auser may select a saved location such as a work location, a homelocation, a sports facility, a school, and/or the like. Based on theentered location(s) the route may be calculated.

In some cases, the start location may be determined to be a currentlocation of the vehicle 710, 1410 and/or a current location of thepersonal mobile device 730, 1430. In such cases, the road segment safetyrating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may be configured to calculate aroute in near-real time as the vehicle 1410 travels along the route. Insome cases, the route may be recalculated while the vehicle is movingalong a road segment. This recalculation may be performed when a vehiclehas been determined to have stopped, when the vehicle 1410 has modifiedthe original route, such as by missing a turn, a user has entered a newdestination and/or a new start location. Once a first route segment hasbeen determined, at least one (e.g. three road segments, four roadsegments, ten road segments, etc.) may be determined between the startlocation and the end location, where each road segment may be calculatedin such a way to minimize the time spent on the route, minimize adistance traveled, to avoid particular road or geographical features(e.g., unprotected left turns, mountains, etc.), to avoid weatherconditions (e.g., a snow storm, a dust storm, etc.) or any combinationof the like.

Once determined, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may calculate a safety rating for each of the plurality of roadsegments between the start location and the end location based, at leastin part, on a variety of criteria that may be received from a pluralityof devices and/or may be stored in a number of databases (e.g., a driveprofile database 1456, an insurance database 1470, and/or a memorydevice 1420, 1440 associated with one of the vehicle 1410 and/orpersonal mobile device 1430. For example, the safety rating calculationmay be determined, at least in part, on information corresponding to anoccupant of the vehicle 1410 other than the driver. For example, if thevehicle 1410 is carrying children (e.g., infants, toddlers, youngpersons) and/or other individuals, the route calculator may beconfigured generate a route near more rest stops or roads that have awide shoulder to pull off to the side. Further, when other occupants arein the vehicle 1410, which have a historical driving pattern or drivinghistory similar to a route you are requesting, then the route calculatormay find that their route is safer because the other occupants mayassist the driver by alerting the driver to features to avoid orotherwise be aware. Such information may be obtained from one or more ofa road segment safety rating database 1454 which may store informationabout a plurality of routes and/or road segments and the associatedsafety rating that may be personalized for each individual driver usinginformation stored in a driver profile database 1456 (e.g., telematicsinformation, demographic information, and/or the like. In some cases,the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may analyzeinformation corresponding to the occupant's telematics history andclaims history. In doing so, the road segment safety rating system 1416,1436 and/or 1452 may determine whether or not the occupant(s) may be apositive or a negative influence on the driver of the vehicle.

In some cases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may calculate a safety rating for each of the plurality of roadsegments between the start location and the end location based, at leastin part, on one or more other vehicles on the road within proximity tothe driver. For example, during the drive, the route calculator could berepeatedly called to recalculate a safer route based on the vehiclesaround the vehicle's current location. Once a nearby vehicle has beenidentified, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452may retrieve historical driving information associated with the othervehicle(s), such as from a driver profile database. Such information mayinclude driving patterns, claims history and the traffic volume aroundat that time. For example, the route calculator may suggest a route toavoid being near those vehicles. Further, if traffic informationindicates that an accident has occurred, the road segment safety ratingsystem 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may calculate (or recalculate) a route tosafely bypass the accident.

In some cases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may calculate a safety rating for each of the plurality of roadsegments between the start location and the end location based, at leastin part, on the vehicle 1410 being driven by the operator. For example,one or more road segments may be generated and/or analyzed based on themake or model of the vehicle, current capabilities and features of thevehicle by the route calculator such as by identifying an ability of avehicle to drive in inclement weather. For example, a certain type ofvehicle (e.g., a sports car, a performance car, etc.) may not handlewell in inclement weather, where any route generated may be configuredto bypass most of the instruction by design. In some cases, the roadsegment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may calculate aroute based, at least in part, on the maintenance history of thevehicle. For example, the route calculator may generate a plurality ofroutes that avoid curvy roads if your tires are under-inflated orover-inflated and there is snow/inclement weather.

In some cases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may calculate a safety rating for each of the plurality of roadsegments between the start location and the end location based, at leastin part, on the driver of the vehicle. For example, the route may begenerated using telematics history associate with the driver. Thisinformation may provide insight as to whether the driver tends to brakehard, accelerate quickly, take corners quickly and drive over the speedlimit often. Here, the more risky the driver actually drives, the morelikely our route will take them along roads that try to reduce thedriver's exposure to that risk. For instance, if the driver frequentlybrakes hard, the generated road segment may include of less stops and/orintersections. Further, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436and/or 1452 may obtain a driver's claims history, such as from a datastorage device. The claims history may be used to add telematicsinformation which may guide the route calculator to generate one or moreroad segments that avoid roads with similar features where the claimhappened. Further, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436and/or 1452 may analyze driving patterns that may be stored in one ormore data storage devices. the driving patterns may provide informationregarding which route(s) the driver normally takes on a more frequentbasis. For instance, a particular individual may follow a same routesegment upon which the individual may drive to work. If the destinationis the same as the work destination, the road segment safety ratingsystem 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may tend to calculate a route that is thesame as their most-frequent route they drive to work. In some cases, theage and/or skill level of the driver may be taken into account when theroad segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 generates theroutes. For example, For example, the system may allow parents of teensto rate the skill level of their teen driver. Such a feature, may alsobe extended to any driver, with the caveat that the skill level givenmay be based on a third party observing a particular driver's skill.Once a database of the driver's skill level has been established, one ormore road segments may be calculated based on skills that the driversperform very well or, conversely, the skills in which the driver needsmore work. For instance, the driver may be scored very highly on rightturns, but not on unprotected left turns, so the route calculator maygenerate one or more routes that avoid unprotected left turns in favorof right turns.

In some cases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may calculate a safety rating for each of the plurality of roadsegments between the start location and the end location based, at leastin part, on one or more features of the road, or geographical featuresnear the road. For example, the roads themselves may have certain risksassigned to them based on a combination of their traffic volume fordifferent times of the day, the number of claims on the road, the numberof driving events (e.g., hard braking) on the road and may be taken asan average for a number of people who drive, or have driven, along theroad segment. The road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may take these into account and assign a risk to each segment ofroad and route you around the most risky.

In some cases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may present the safety ratings to the driver for each of thedifferent routes. This presentation of the one or more road segments tothe driver may be done via the user interface 1418 and/or 1436. Forexample, the user interface may present an audio indication via aspeaker and/or a visual representation of the plurality of routes in auser interface screen. In an illustrative example, one or more userinterface screens may be used to identify the safest route, offer rewardif the driver travels the safest route, show one or more routes on a mapand the user interface may further allow the user to select a roadsegment to travel by voice commands, gestures, touch and/or the like. Inother cases, the user may indicate a choice of route merely by beginningto travel along that particular route. While the vehicle travels alongthe route, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452may identify route actually travelled based, at least in part, oninformation received from the navigation system 1412, and/or 1432. Ifthe road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 determinesthat the driver has traveled along the safest route, an award may begiven to the driver, such as an insurance discount, a rebate, rewardpoints, and/or the like. If the road segment safety rating system 1416,1436 and/or 1452 determines that the vehicle has not traveled along thesafest route, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may notify the driver that they are not traveling the safest routeeither during transit along the route or upon route completion. In suchcases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 maygenerate an notification to the user that an award may be available whenthe driver travels along the indicated safest route. If, for somereason, the traveled route is safer than the generated routes, thedriver may earn another reward and the road segment safety rating system1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may save the route in the road segment safetyrating database 1454 for future reference. In some cases, the safestroute may be displayed on a map via a user interface screen 1414, 1434.In some cases, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may allow a user to book mark a chosen route. Also, the roadsegment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may be configured torecalculate the safety rating of a road segment while the vehicle 1410is in motion and in near real time.

FIG. 15 shows a flow diagram illustrating an example method ofidentifying a safest route between a first location and a secondlocation, according to one or more aspects described herein. At 1502,the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may beconfigured to identify a route or road segment upon which a vehicle istraveling, or is likely to travel. At 1504, the road segment safetyrating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may generate a plurality ofalternate route segments between the start location and the end locationwhere, at 1506, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may be configured to determine a safety rating for each roadsegment based, at least in part, on historical information and/or driverinformation for the plurality of route segments. At 1508, a safest routeis identified based on a formula, or other quantitative means, where oneor more of the plurality of routes, including the safest route, ispresented to the driver at 1510. At 1515, the road segment safety ratingsystem 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may evaluate whether the driver traveledthe route indicated as being the safes. If so, the road segment safetyrating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may notify the user that the safestroute has been traveled and generate an award for the driver, at 1522.If not, at 1520, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or1452 may notify the user that a safer route was available and that anaward may be given the next time the user travels along a safe route. At1525, the road segment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 mayanalyze the safest route to determine whether to save it in a safe routedatabase. If so, at 1530, the route is saved for future use by the roadsegment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452.

FIGS. 16-23 show illustrative user interfaces displaying informationcorresponding to a determined safest route between the first locationand the second location system according to one or more aspectsdescribed herein. FIGS. 16 and 17 display illustrative user interfacescreens for bookmarking a route (e.g., FIG. 16), where the driver canstore a calculated route or road segment for future travel. FIG. 17displays an illustrative overview screen that displays informationregarding the driver and that this saved route is a route upon which thedriver travels to work (e.g., work route). FIG. 18 shows an illustrativetextual representation of a route. Such a route may also be indicatedvisually on a map or output as an audio representation of the route.FIG. 19 shows recently traveled trips (e.g., between 11:31 and 11:33 oftoday. The overview screen also indicates a total reward time earned andan indication that a safer route is available. FIGS. 20-22 showgraphical representations of one or more routes on a map including thecurrent route and the route that had been indicated as being safer. FIG.23 shows an illustrative user interface screen that displays reasoningas to why the route was determined to be safer. In some cases, the roadsegment safety rating system 1416, 1436 and/or 1452 may be configured togenerate directions for a return route, as shown in FIG. 24. The returnroute may have a different safety rating than the original route. FIGS.25 and 26 show illustrative user interface screens for notifying a userthat the user had traveled the indicated safest route.

While the aspects described herein have been discussed with respect tospecific examples including various modes of carrying out aspects of thedisclosure, those skilled in the art will appreciate that there arenumerous variations and permutations of the above described systems andtechniques that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A road segment safety rating system, comprising:a computing device associated with a vehicle, the computing devicecomprising one or more processors and at least one non-transitory memorydevice storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the computing device to: identify a startlocation and an end location of at least one route to be traveled by avehicle based, at least in part, on information provided by a user of amobile device; determine, based on the start location and the endlocation, at least two road segments from the start location to the endlocation wherein the at least two road segments comprise differentroutes between the start location and the end location; determine, basedon historical data, a safety rating for each of the at least two roadsegments from the start location to the end location; and provide, via auser interface device, an indication of the safety rating for each ofthe at least two road segments to an operator of the vehicle.
 2. Theroad segment safety rating system of claim 1, the computing devicefurther including instructions that, when executed, cause the mobiledevice to: compare each of the determined safety ratings for the atleast two road segments between the start location and the end locationto determine a safest road segment of the at least two road segments;present, via the user interface device, an indication of the safest roadsegment between the start location and the end location
 3. The roadsegment safety rating system of claim 1, wherein the computing device isa mobile computing device.
 4. The road segment safety rating system ofclaim 1, wherein the computing device is an on-board vehicle computingdevice of the vehicle.
 5. The road segment safety rating system of claim1, wherein instructions that, when executed, cause the mobile device todetermine, based on historical data, a safety rating for each of the atleast two road segments from the start location to the end location,cause the computing device to: compare each of the safety ratings ofeach of the at least two road segments to a criterion; identify, fromthe road segments that meet the criterion, a safest road segment as theroad segment associated with the safety rating that road segment thatbest meets the criterion.
 6. The road segment safety rating system ofclaim 1, wherein the historical data includes at least accidentfrequency data associated with the road segment and traffic volume dataassociated with the road segment.
 7. The road segment safety ratingsystem of claim 1, wherein the historical data includes at leasthistorical telematics information associated with the operator of thevehicle.
 8. The road segment safety rating system of claim 7, whereinthe telematics information associated with an identified operator of thevehicle is received by computing device from a telematics deviceassociated with the vehicle.
 9. The road segment safety rating system ofclaim 1, further comprising a remote server in communication with thecomputing device associated with the vehicle, the remote serverincluding a processor and a non-transitory memory device storinginstructions that, when executed, cause the remote server to: identifythe operator of the vehicle; and communicate driving behaviorinformation associated with the identified operator of the vehicle tothe computing device associated with the vehicle, wherein the safetyrating for each road segment is based on the historical data and drivingbehavior information associated with the operator of the vehicle. 10.The road segment safety rating system of claim 1, the computing devicefurther including instructions that, when executed, cause the mobiledevice to: notify the operator of the vehicle, via the user interfacedevice, that travel along presented safest route is eligible for aninsurance-based reward.
 11. A personal mobile device comprising: aprocessor; a user interface device communicably coupled to theprocessor; and at least one non-transitory memory device storingcomputer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the mobile device to: receive, via the user interfacedevice, a first location corresponding to a location along a route to betraveled by a vehicle; determine, based on the first location and asecond location that corresponds to a location of the vehicle, aplurality of road segments between the first location and the secondlocation wherein the plurality of road segments comprise differentroutes between the first location and the second location; determine,based at least in part on historical data, a safety rating for each ofthe plurality of road segments; and provide, via the user interfacedevice, an indication of a safest road segment of the plurality of roadsegments to an operator of the vehicle, wherein the safest road segmentis determined using the safety rating determined for each of theplurality of road segments.
 12. The personal mobile device of claim 11,further comprising: a location detection unit communicatively coupled tothe processor, wherein the location detection unit provides a locationof the personal mobile device for use as the second location.
 13. Thepersonal mobile device of claim 12, wherein the location detection unitcomprises one of a mobile location tracking device and a globalpositioning satellite unit.
 14. The personal mobile device of claim 11,wherein the first location comprises an end location of each of theplurality of road segments and the second location comprises a startlocation of each of the plurality of road segments.
 15. The personalmobile device of claim 11, the non-transitory memory device furtherstoring instructions that, when executed, cause the mobile device to:receive, from at least one sensor arranged on a vehicle, driving dataassociated with an operator of the vehicle; analyze the received drivingdata to determine at least one driving behavior of the user; transmit,to a remote server, the determined at least one driving behavior of theuser and location information corresponding to the plurality of roadsegments including the first location and the second location; andreceive, from the remote server, information associated with at leastone of: historical accident data associated with the plurality of roadsegments and traffic volume data associated with the plurality of roadsegments; and wherein the safety rating for each of the plurality ofroad segments is further determined using the historical accident dataand the traffic volume data associated with each of the plurality ofroad segments.
 16. The personal mobile device of claim 15, thenon-transitory memory device further storing instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the mobile device to: receive, from the remote server,an indication of an award to be earned by the operator of the vehicleupon confirmation that the operator traveled the safest route segment;and provide, to the operator of the vehicle via the user interface, anindication that the award can be earned when the operator travels thesafest route between the first location and the second location.
 17. Thepersonal mobile device of claim 11, the non-transitory memory devicefurther storing instructions that, when executed, cause the mobiledevice to: receive, from a location detection unit, a plurality oflocations of the vehicle as the vehicle travels to the first locationfrom the second location; determine, based on the received plurality oflocations, whether the vehicle traveled along a safest route; andprovide, via the user interface, an indication that an award has beenearned by the operator of the vehicle when the vehicle has traveledalong the safest route.
 18. A road segment safety rating system,comprising: a mobile computing device associated with a vehicle, themobile computing device comprising: one or more first processors; alocation detection unit communicatively coupled to the processor; and atleast one first non-transitory memory device storing computer-readableinstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causethe mobile computing device to: identify a start location and an endlocation of at least one route to be traveled by a vehicle based, atleast in part, on information provided by a user of the mobile computingdevice; and communicate, via a telecommunications network, the startlocation and the end location to a remote server; the remote servercomprising: one or more second processors; and at least one secondnon-transitory memory device storing computer-readable instructionsthat, when executed by the one or more second processors, cause theremote server to: determine, based on the start location and the endlocation, a plurality of road segments from the start location to theend location wherein the plurality of road segments comprise differentroutes between the start location and the end location; determine, basedon historical data, a safety rating for each of the plurality of roadsegments; and transfer, via the network to the mobile computing device,an indication of the safety rating for each of the plurality of roadsegments for display to the user of the mobile computing device.
 19. Theroad segment safety rating system of claim 18, wherein the mobilecomputing device comprises one of a personal computing device and avehicle computing system.
 20. The road segment safety rating system ofclaim 19, wherein: the first non-transitory memory device furtherstoring instructions that, when executed, cause the mobile computingdevice to: receive, from at least one sensor arranged on a vehicle,driving data associated with an operator of the vehicle; analyze thereceived driving data to determine at least one driving behavior of theuser; transmit, to the remote server, the determined at least onedriving behavior of the user; and the second non-transitory memorydevice further storing instructions that, when executed, cause theremote server to: retrieve, from an insurance data repository,information associated with at least one of: historical accident dataassociated with the plurality of road segments and traffic volume dataassociated with the plurality of road segments; and wherein the safetyrating for each of the plurality of road segments is further determinedusing the historical accident data and the traffic volume dataassociated with each of the plurality of road segments.